¿Qué tiempo hace?
/ˈke ˈtjempo ˈaθe/word by word
In Spanish, the phrase for "what is the weather like?" is ¿Qué tiempo hace?
This phrase is a question used to ask about the current atmospheric conditions outside.
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, ¿Qué tiempo hace? translates to "What weather does it make?"
Which one should you use?
While ¿Qué tiempo hace? is the standard idiomatic way to ask, you might also hear ¿Cómo está el clima por ahí? to ask "How's the weather over there?" in casual settings or ¿Cuál es el estado del tiempo? which means "What is the state of the weather?" in more formal contexts.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Latin America, you might encounter the phrase ¿Cómo está el clima? more often than in Spain.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈke ˈtjempo ˈaθe/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use ¿Cómo es el tiempo? by following English word order, but ¿Qué tiempo hace? is the standard idiomatic way to ask.
Did you know?
- The word tiempo shares a common ancestor with the English word 'tempo', both deriving from a root meaning 'to stretch' or 'to extend'.
- The verb hace in this phrase is the same one used to say 'ago' in Spanish. For example, hace dos días means 'two days ago', linking the concept of weather to the passage of time.
- While English uses the verb 'to be' to describe the weather, Spanish uses hacer, meaning 'to make'. This frames the weather as something being actively produced rather than a state of being.
Examples in context
- ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy en Madrid?What is the weather like today in Madrid?
