translate weather - use "el tiempo" or "el clima"?
I was recently told the usage of "el tiempo" for weather was wrong, and I should use "el clima." Specifically, I was told 'If you say " como esta el tiempo" in say, Mexico, they would be perplexed.' However, I was taught "el tiempo" meant both weather and time, and "el clima" meant climate, in the sense of temperate or tropical or arctic. Is this a regional difference, or a difference in standard Spanishes, as Latin American vs. Spain? Could people let me know which they use and where they were taught that usage?
I checked the dictionary here, and the translation given from English for "weather" is "el tiempo", and climate was translated la clima, although it then said clima was masculine. Tiempo is given as both time and weather under different meanings in the same entry. It would be a big help to me to know if the distinction is regional or standard, or if most Spanish speaking countries understand these as synonyms for each other.
Thank you for your help.
Rebecca
9 Answers
I agree both with your assessment, Rebecca, and with kweezy93's answer. I understand that "Clima" always refers to metereological phonomena, specially in terms of what's the typical climate for a given area. Tiempo, on the other hand, is the common way to refer to the weather, except of course when you're talking about time!
As for what they use in Mexico, at least this Official Site for the Meteorological Service refers to weather as" Tiempo", so I'm fairly sure Mexicans won't be perplexed by that application of the word : http://smn.cna.gob.mx/
Great question.
Regarding Mexico specifically, I have seen "el clima" used interchangeably with "el tiempo". For example, a local newspaper has a daily feature entitled "el clima de hoy" and it is clearly the weather for the day.
On the other hand, "tiempo" would be completely understood and correctly used to mean "weather" in Mexico.
Since there are so many countries that speak Spanish, and really a lot of variation within any given country, sometimes it's difficult to pin something down. Unless you are planning on being in a specific place for a period of time, in which case you want to try to learn vocab that is commonly used in that region, it's better to follow general guidelines. A a rule "tiempo" is understood to be "weather" and "clima" is understood to be "climate".
Tiempo does mean weather and clima does mean climate. However, I've never heard someone use tiempo to mean anything but time. In most casual conversations, I hear people use clima for weather. I think it might be a dialect thing. I've heard tiempo use for weather more with Spaniards. I speak Guatemalan Spanish and the dialect I speak, we do not use tiempo at all.
rscudder said:
I checked the dictionary here, and the translation given from English for "weather" is "el tiempo," and climate was translated as
lael clima, although it then said clima was masculine.
Hi rscudder. I’m going off topic here, but I thought that you might find this a little bit interesting or helpful. There were, at some point, a number of words imported into Spanish that were, strangely enough, of Greek origin. They could have been declared feminine since they end in a. Somehow, it was decided that they would retain their “original spelling” (well, their counterpart spelling, you might say, because obviously, Greek had a different alphabet) and that they should be masculine words because they were masculine in Greek. Here is a list of some of the most common ones.
el problema
el sistema
el tema
el clima
el drama
el idioma
el poema
el síntoma
el telegrama
Notice that they all end in –ma. This is the indicator that the word is usually from the Greek and masculine, despite the fact that they look like feminine words. The correct article, in such cases, is always el.
The difference is year-round weather or climate (Clima) as opposed to weather of a specific day (Tiempo). In Mexico, it's understood this way as well.
My Collins desktop dictionary (6th edition) defines "tiempo" extensively. Most of its uses involve time in some context. (1) the duration of a period of time., (2) describing a moment of time, (3) describing epochs of time, (4) describing age in comparisons (Ricardo y yo somos del mismo tiempo.). (5) referring to short periods of time as in ball games, (primero tiempo , segundo tiempo,, tiempo muerto) (6) and other examples of less common uses.
However, one accepted use is to refer to current, recent, and forecast weather conditions. (Hace buen tiempo., ¿Qué tiempo hace ahí?)
The definition of "clima" is relatively brief and illustrates is use as a way to refer to general atmospheric conditions, be they related to typical weather, or a sense of prevailing opinions, as in the climate of a meeting, or the climate of public opinion.
In Honduran Spanish, tiempo and clima are used fairly interchangeably when referring to current weather conditions. Always use clima (never tiempo) to refer to overall climatic features of an area.
Looks to me like error - should be el clima and yes - it is masculine.
It depends on where you are speaking it. But it is usually el tiempo
