Lesson 1.14: question about weather

Question

I'm confused as to why throughout Lesson 1.14, "It's cloudy" is translated as "Hace nubles" and "It's sunny" is translated as "Hace sol". They appear to be using nouns (clouds and sun) rather than adjectives (cloudy and sunny). This makes no sense to me. Even before I took this lesson, I had only ever heard "Hace nublado" and "Hace soleado", and when I used Spanish Dict's own translator, those are the phrases which appeared. I hope someone can explain this inconsistency. Gracias!

Good question, Canuckmarc. Sometimes it is confusing - all those things about weather. Good you asked. :) - iana01, Jun 23, 2012

Answer 1

I read (perhaps on this forum) that although "hace sol", for example, literally means "it makes sun", it can also mean "he/she makes sun". And that a long time ago, this originated from "He (God) makes sun... or cold... or heat".

This makes sense and works for a lot of the expressions depending on whether or not you can actually touch what is you are talking about:

Can you actually touch "Sunny"? "Cold"? "Heat"? "Wind"? "Humid"? (Maybe in Florida)

Hace sol. Hace frío. Hace calor. Hace viento. Hace humedad.

But you can touch "rain", "snow", "clouds", "fog":

Está lloviendo. Está nevando. Está nublado. Está brumoso.

Interesting! - --Mariana--, Jun 23, 2012

I thought so, too... and it helps me to remember :) - Tosh, Jun 23, 2012

Wow, Tosh! Thanks a lot for this explanation. (You would be a great teacher.) From now on I will surely remember these "weather expressions". Muchísimas gracias, :)) - iana01, Jun 23, 2012

Great explanation, Tosh. Also, I noticed in my original question, I had used "hace" with "nublado" and "soleado", but now realize it should be "está" in both cases. - canuckmarc, Jun 23, 2012

Very interesting. i hadn't heard that explanation before. thanks! - Noetol, Jun 23, 2012

Answer 2

The weather expressions containing "hace" are idioms, and by convention take nouns. Hace frío, hace sol, hace calor, etc.

There is another class of expressions that use " estar" + adjective. One of these is " está nublado".

The term "hace nubes" seems to me from my research a very regional expression, and is much less common than "está nublado".

A little more info is found here Weather expressions

Thanks for explanation, Noetol! And for the link as well. Muchas gracias. - iana01, Jun 23, 2012

I agree! "Está nublado" is most common. - --Mariana--, Jun 23, 2012

De nada, Iana. ¡Buenos días! :)) - Noetol, Jun 23, 2012

Thanks, Noetel. Although I must admit I don't understand the distinction between when to use "hace" or "hay". If I've researched correctly, these are conjugations of two different verbs, "hacer" and "haber" respectively. - canuckmarc, Jun 23, 2012

Answer 3

"Calor" does not have an accent or a diaeresis.

De acuerdo pero lo del diéresis en la /o/ fué un error de dedo. - El_Mexicalense, Jun 24, 2012

Answer 4

When you tell someone far away by phone for example, you can tell him/her hay calor/hay frío aquí or allá or está caliente aquí/allá.

Hay humedad= there´s humidity, There´s high humidity= Hay alta humedad.There´s too much humidity=Hay mucha humedad. I feel cold= Me estoy helando. I feel the heat= Siento el calor. heat wave=onda de calor.

Answer 5

It's clowdy= Está nublado. You never say "hace nubes". It´s sunny= Está soleado. It´s getting clowdy= Se está nublando. The sky is clearing= El cielo se está despejando. It´s going to rain= Vá a llover. weather forecast= Pronóstico del(tiempo/clíma). Clíma=weather. How´s the weather?= ¿Cómo está el clíma? It´s snowing= Está nevando. drizzle= llovízna It´s drizzling= Está lloviznando. It´s windy= Está venteando. I´m hot= Tengo calor. I´m cold=Tengo frío.

typo on cloudy... thanks for the post - katydew, Jun 24, 2012

Answer 6

Hi, Marc, welcome to the forum!

I found this a bit difficult too when I first started to learn Spanish.

Take a look at my list of some weather terms.

Thanks Mariana to you too. I learnt a lot about weather expressions today here from all these answers. Thanks to you all, people who answered this question. Weather is a frequent topic of conversations. I am glad I looked at this question. :)) - iana01, Jun 23, 2012

Thank you Mariana. Your list is helpful, and I learned a new word "brumoso" which I don't think was in the lesson. - canuckmarc, Jun 23, 2012

Nice review. Thanks for bumping it back into the present. - katydew, Jun 24, 2012

Answer 7

You can either say: Hace calor/Esta haciendo calor. Está frío/Está haciendo frío. Meaning it´s hot/it´s cold.