Tiempo: Time or Weather

Question

I am confused by tiempo because it can mean either time or weather.

Usually you can tell which one it means because of context, but some questions it's very hard to tell which tiempo is being used.

i.e. ¿Qué es el tiempo?

Couldn't that mean

• What is the time? or What is the weather?

Answer 1

¿Qué es el tiempo? What is time? They should give you the dictionary or scientific definition of time.

But what's the meaning of
What is the weather?
Is it what's the weather like?
or You want the dictionary or scientific meaning of the word weather.
Then it's true.. They would be the same.

Yes, the above is out of context. A similar tricky question would be if I ask "What is the meaning of the word "like"? Well, it could be the verb enjoy, it could mean "similar to", it could be part of the questiion word what........like etc. All out of context.

Think of the word "time" in English. It could be uncountable meaning " ·tiempo·" or it could be countable meaning "vez".

I have time. Tengo tiempo.
I went there three times. Fui allí tres veces.

Mysteries of human languages.

Answer 2

In this particular instante I'd assume they're asking for a definition of "time".

When "tiempo" is used for "weather", usually some additional keywords let you know it's about metereology: "¿cómo está el tiempo?", "¿Cuál es el pronóstico del tiempo?" "Hoy hace buen tiempo", "Me llevo un paraguas, parece que va a hacer mal tiempo".

But I don't think anyone would ask "¿qué es el tiempo?", without further context, and expect the answer to be about weather. It wouldn't cross my mind, at least.

Answer 3

Hello!

Here are links from this page that has been discussed many times before.

• how can tiempo be the word for weather and time ?
• Time and Weather
• How can i tell the difference between "El tiempo" Time and "El tiempo" weather?
• Tiempo y tiempo

Hope this helps.

Regards!