Talking About the Weather in Chinese with Kids

We talk about the weather all the time. How to get our kids to talk about it in Chinese? Here are some Chinese vocabulary and sentence structures we can teach them. 

The most common questions we use when asking about the weather are

• 天气怎么样？How is the weather?
• 今天天气怎么样？ How is the weather today?

For this question, we can come up with two types of answers:

Answers Based on the Condition

These answers basically describe the weather condition, such as 晴天 (sunny day), 阴天(cloudy day), 雨天 (rainy day), 雪天 (snowy day), 雾天 (foggy day), 刮风天（windy day).

For example, 

晴天我们总是出去跑步。
We always go out jogging on sunny days. 

今天是阴天，没有阳光。
It’s a cloudy day today. There is no sunshine. 

又是一个雨天，我想呆在家里读书。
It’s again a rainy day, I want to stay at home and read. 

看，外面在下雪！我喜欢雪天。
Look, it’s snowing outside. I like snowy days!

今天是个雾天，骑车要小心。
It’s foggy today, be careful when biking. 

Here are some weather Chinese Montessori 3-part flashcards that are useful for kids to learn that vocabulary. 

Answers Based on Temperature

We can describe it by using words such as 热 (hot), 冷(cold), 温暖 (warm), and 凉爽(cool). 

In detail, 

热 refers to hot weather, especially in summer. The temperature is too high to feel comfortable.

冷 refers to cold weather, especially in winter. The temperature is low that we need to put on several layers of clothes.

温暖 refers to warm weather. The temperature is between cold and hot, quite comfortable. Typical mid or late spring weather. 

凉爽 refers to cool weather. The temperature is more cold than hot. An extra layer of light clothes is often needed. 

For example, 

今天很热，我在游泳池泡了一天。
It’s hot today, I’ve spent the whole day in the swimming pool.

天气温暖的日子，我喜欢出去散步。
On warm days, I like going out for a walk. 

凉爽的晚上最好带上一件薄夹克。
It’s a good idea to bring a light jacket on cool evenings.

外面很冷，穿上外套。
Take your coat. It’s cold outside. 

Now that we know what to talk about the weather, we can have conversations with our kids often. It’s a good practice not only for the purpose of learning Chinese but also to train the skills of observing and expressing the weather conditions. 

The visual interactive daily calendar is a great tool to initiate and invite kids to talk about the day, from the date, weekday, season, weather, and much more. 

By the way, I’ve added a whole lesson with all the supplementary materials on weather in our membership portal.

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