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Talking about the weather in Mandarin follows a slightly different structure to English, but it¡¯s simple enough to pick up.

In English, you might be asked:

How is the weather today?

You can ask this in Mandarin by saying:

½ñÌìµÄÌìÆøÔõôÑù£¿ J¨©n ti¨¡n de ti¨¡n q¨¬ z¨§n me yang?

Breaking this question down, you can start to see the structural differences between Mandarin and English:

½ñÌìµÄ J¨©n ti¨¡n de (Today's) ÌìÆø ti¨¡n q¨¬ (weather) ÔõôÑù£¿ z¨§n me yang? (how is?)

Some key terms when talking about the weather in Mandarin include:

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To create a statement in Mandarin from the above words, there are four verb options:

1. ½ñÌìÊÇ J¨©n ti¨¡n ²õ³ó¨¬ - Today is, eg sunny and cloudy

2. ½ñÌìÓÐ J¨©n ti¨¡n ²â¨¯³Ü - Today has, eg fog

3. ½ñÌìÏ J¨©n ti¨¡n ³æ¾±¨¤ - Today falls, eg rain and snow

4. ½ñÌì¹Î J¨©n ti¨¡n ²µ³Ü¨¡ - Today blows, eg wind

Examples:

• ½ñÌìÊÇÇçÌì J¨©n ti¨¡n ²õ³ó¨¬ q¨ªng ti¨¡n - Today is sunny

• ½ñÌìÓÐÎí J¨©n ti¨¡n ²â¨¯³Ü ·É¨´ - Today is foggy

• ½ñÌìÏÂÓê J¨©n ti¨¡n ³æ¾±¨¤ ²â¨³ - Today is rainy

• ½ñÌì¹Î·ç J¨©n ti¨¡n ²µ³Ü¨¡ ´Ú¨¥²Ô²µ - Today is windy

Temperature

To describe the temperature in Mandarin, you could use:

For extremes, try adding ºÜ ³ó¨§²Ô (very) to these:

Example:

• ½ñÌìºÜÀä J¨©n ti¨¡n ³ó¨§²Ô ±ô¨§²Ô²µ - Today is very cold

Instead of ¡®today¡¯, you may want to talk about the weather in specific seasons in Mandarin.

For example, in Mandarin you could say:

• ¶¬ÌìºÜÀä D¨­ng ti¨¡n ³ó¨§²Ô ±ô¨§²Ô²µ - In Winter it is very cold

• ÇïÌì¾­³£¹Î·ç Qi¨± ti¨¡n j¨©ng ch¨¢ng ²µ³Ü¨¡ ´Ú¨¥²Ô²µ - In Autumn it is often windy

If you want to talk about the weather of a specific place in Mandarin, you simply add the name of that place between ½ñÌì J¨©n ti¨¡n (Today) and the weather.

For example in Mandarin you could say:½ñÌìËÕ¸ñÀ¼ºÜÈÈ J¨©n ti¨¡n S¨± g¨¦ l¨¢n ³ó¨§²Ô °ù¨¨ - Today it is very hot in Scotland

The literal translation for this is ½ñÌì J¨©n ti¨¡n (Today) ËÕ¸ñÀ¼ S¨± g¨¦ l¨¢n (Scotland) ºÜÈÈ ³ó¨§²Ô °ù¨¨ (very hot).

Now you've learnt how to talk about the weather and seasons in Mandarin, let's put it into a conversation!

Mary: ½ñÌìÌìÆø²»´í£¡ J¨©n ti¨¡n ti¨¡n q¨¬ b¨² cu¨°! - It¡¯s a nice day (literally: Today's weather is not bad).

Tom: Êǵģ¬ÎÒϲ»¶±±¾©µÄ´ºÌì¡£ Sh¨¬ de, w¨¯ x¨« hu¨¡n b¨§i j¨©ng de ch¨±n ti¨¡n. - Yes, I like Beijing in the Spring.