The use of "hace" in weather related sentences.

Question

I just translated the sentence " It is raining in Arizona" on this website. it gave me the translation " Esta(with a tilde) lloviendo en Arizona.

I thought with weather related stuff, you had to use Hace?

can someone explain.

Answer 1

Yes, for most weather-related phrases, you do use "hace." (Hace frío, etc)

But, "it is raining" and "it is snowing" are special. They have their own verbs: llover (to rain) and nevar (to snow).

Therefore, to say "it is raining" you can say: "Llueve" or "Está lloviendo"

And to say "it is snowing" you can say: "Nieva" or "Está nevando"

You can try watching the video for Lesson 1.13 (it's about weather). It explains in there, I think.

Interesting, in México we use "neva" instead of "nieva" for the present form. - Mokay, Dec 29, 2009

Answer 2

HI pepsi:

Hace normally with adjectives or nouns:

hace frío, calor, bueno, malo....

The rest are verbs, so you need to conjugate:

Está lloviendo, está nevando, está granizando

Answer 3

Está lloviendo, está lloviznando, está cayendo nieve, hace frío, hace calor, etc.