Weather and seasons in Chinese

October 3, 2026 · 7 min read

Talking about the weather in Chinese takes very short sentences: "it's cold today" is three words, "it's raining" is two. There's hardly any grammar to learn, but two things work differently from English: "cold" and "hot" don't need a verb like "is", and with rain and snow the verb "come down" goes first, with no "it". Below are the words and phrases, each with a recording you can play.

How to ask "what's the weather like?" in Chinese

• 天气tiānqìweather
• 怎么样zěnmeyànghow, what like

The question has three parts: when, "weather", and 怎么样, "how is it?". There's no word for "what" here, and 怎么样 always goes at the end. The word 天气 is made of "sky" and "air".

• 今天天气怎么样？jīntiāntiānqìzěnmeyàngWhat’s the weather like today?
• 明天天气怎么样？míngtiāntiānqìzěnmeyàngWhat’s the weather like tomorrow?
• 今天外面热吗？jīntiānwàimiànrèmaIs it hot outside today?

Cold and hot in Chinese: no 是 needed

• 冷lěngcold
• 热rèhot
• 暖和nuǎnhuowarm
• 凉快liángkuaicool, pleasantly cool

In English you need "is": "it is cold". In Chinese an adjective works as the verb by itself, so 是 ("to be") doesn't go in front of it. Instead you usually put 很 hěn — very: 今天很冷, "it's cold today". Here 很 barely means "very"; it simply links the thing and its quality. 今天是冷 is a mistake.

• 外面很冷。wàimiànhěnlěngIt’s cold outside.
• 冬天很冷。dōngtiānhěnlěngIt’s cold in winter.
• 今天太热了！jīntiāntàirèleIt’s way too hot today!
• 今天不冷不热。jīntiānbùlěngbúrèIt’s neither cold nor hot today.
• 今天比昨天凉快jīntiānbǐzuótiānliángkuaiIt’s cooler today than yesterday.

It's raining, it's snowing

• 下雨xiàyǔto rain
• 雨yǔrain
• 雪xuěsnow
• 风fēngwind
• 伞sǎnumbrella

The verb 下 xià — down; to come down means "to come down, to fall". 下雨 is literally "falls rain", and 下雪 xià xuě is "falls snow". The verb comes first and then what falls: not "the rain falls" but "falls rain". There's no "it" either. For wind you say 刮风 guā fēng, "the wind blows".

• 要下雨了。yàoxiàyǔleIt’s going to rain.
• 下雨了，你带伞了吗？xiàyǔle,nǐdàisǎnlemaIt’s started raining. Did you bring an umbrella?
• 外面下着雨。wàimiànxiàzheyǔIt’s raining outside.
• 外边下雪了。wàibianxiàxuěleIt’s started snowing outside.
• 外边刮风了。wàibianguāfēngleThe wind has picked up outside.
• 明天可能下雨míngtiānkěnéngxiàyǔIt might rain tomorrow.

The particle 了 at the end marks a change: 下雨了, "it's started raining", it wasn't a minute ago. 要…了 means "about to": 要下雨了. And 着 after a verb says the action is going on right now, much like English "-ing": 下着雨, "it's raining".

Sunny, overcast, cloudy

• 晴qíngclear, sunny
• 阴yīnovercast
• 云yúncloud
• 太阳tàiyángsun
• 雾wùfog

In speech 晴 and 阴 usually get 天, "day": 晴天 qíngtiān, "a sunny day", 阴天 yīntiān, "an overcast day". These are nouns, so here 是 is exactly what you need: 今天是晴天. "Cloudy" in a forecast is 多云 duōyún, literally "many clouds".

• 今天是晴天jīntiānshìqíngtiānIt’s a sunny day today.
• 明天阴天，可能下雨míngtiānyīntiān,kěnéngxiàyǔTomorrow will be overcast, maybe with rain.
• 太阳出来了tàiyángchūláileThe sun has come out.
• 今天风很大jīntiānfēnghěndàIt’s very windy today.

A strong wind in Chinese is a "big" one: 风很大. The same goes for rain and snow, a lot like English "heavy" and "light": 大雨 is heavy rain, 小雨 light rain, 大雪 heavy snow.

The four seasons in Chinese

• 春天chūntiānspring
• 夏天xiàtiānsummer
• 秋天qiūtiānfall, autumn
• 冬天dōngtiānwinter
• 季节jìjiéseason

All four names end in 天. "In spring", "in winter" take no "in": you just put the season at the start of the sentence, 冬天很冷, "it's cold in winter". The four seasons together are 四季 sìjì — the four seasons.

• 你最喜欢哪个季节nǐzuìxǐhuannǎgejìjiéWhich season do you like best?
• 我最喜欢春天。wǒzuìxǐhuanchūntiānI like spring best.
• 秋天不冷也不热qiūtiānbùlěngyěbúrèIn the fall it’s neither cold nor hot.
• 冬天经常下雪dōngtiānjīngchángxiàxuěIt often snows in winter.
• 北方的冬天很冷běifāngdedōngtiānhěnlěngWinters in the north are cold.
• 这儿一年四季都很热。zhèryìniánsìjìdōuhěnrèIt’s hot here all year round.

Temperature and the weather forecast

• 度dùdegree
• 气温qìwēnair temperature
• 零下língxiàbelow zero
• 预报yùbàoforecast

China measures temperature in Celsius, not Fahrenheit, so 二十度, "twenty degrees", is a pleasant 68 °F. The number goes before 度. Below freezing is 零下, "below zero", and it comes before the number: 零下五度, "minus five", about 23 °F. Forecasts use the full 摄氏度 shèshìdù — degree Celsius; in conversation 度 is enough. For the numbers themselves, see the guide to Chinese numbers.

• 今天外面多少度？jīntiānwàimiànduōshaodùWhat’s the temperature outside today?
• 今天零下五摄氏度。jīntiānlíngxiàwǔshèshìdùIt’s minus five degrees Celsius today.
• 天气预报说，明天有雨。tiānqìyùbàoshuō,míngtiānyǒuyǔThe forecast says it’ll rain tomorrow.
• 今天夜间有小雨。jīntiānyèjiānyǒuxiǎoyǔLight rain tonight.
• 未来几天都是晴天。wèiláijǐtiāndōushìqíngtiānSunny for the next few days.
• 天气越来越冷了。tiānqìyuèláiyuèlěngleIt’s getting colder and colder.

The weather forecast is 天气预报 tiānqì yùbào. Forecasts often say 有雨, "there will be rain", instead of 下雨: 明天有雨. The pattern 越来越 means "more and more": 越来越冷, "colder and colder", 越来越热, "hotter and hotter".

How to remember it

Every morning, answer 今天天气怎么样？ in Chinese with one sentence: 今天很冷, 今天下雨, 今天是晴天. Within a week you'll have used nearly every word in this article. The most common ones, 天气, 冷, 热, 下雨 and 雪, are on the HSK 1 word list.