Language/French/Grammar/Weather-verbs
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Weather verbs
Impersonal verbs
Most verbs are personal: they must be conjugated to different people, such as "manger" (to eat): je mange (I eat), tu manges (you eat), etc.
However, some verbs are used impersonaly, meaning they only have one conjugation, the third person singular.
Impersonal weather verbs
The best-known group of impersonal verbs describe the weather:
French | Translation |
---|---|
II pleut | It's raining |
Il pleut des cordes | It's raining cats and dogs |
Il neige | It's snowing |
Il grêle | It's sleeting |
II tonne | There's thunder about |
Il vente | It's windy |
Il bruine | It's drizzling |
Impersonal use of faire
More generally climatic conditions can be expressed by an impersonal use of faire followed by an adjective or a noun:
French | Translation |
---|---|
Il fait beau | It's a nice day |
Il fait du soleil | It's sunny |
Il fait mauvais | It's not a nice day |
Il fait chaud | It's hot |
Il fait lourd | The weather is oppressive |
Il fait sec | It's very dry |
Il fait humide | It's very humid |
Il fait du brouillard | It's foggy |
Il fait de l'orage | It's stormy |
Il fait un froid de canard | It's very cold |