Talk About Weather

Open Class Chinese - Daily Mandarin-

People often love to talk about the weather, it is always a good way of breaking the ice especially when starting a conversation. It is quite the same in China. Let us see how to use Mandarin to talk about weather to kick started your conversation whenever necessary as follows.

Warm Up

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Listen to conversation

Chen Wei is walking in the park with Jia Jia after lunch. Watch below video and listen to their conversation.

01 What is Mandarin Chinese?

Play the audio track

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今天天气真好！

jīn tiān tiān qì zhēn hǎo！

The weather is so good today！

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来公园散 散步 ，多舒服啊！

lái ɡōnɡ yuán sàn sàn bù ， duō shū fu a ！

It is very comfortable to have a walk in the park!

00:00 / 00:04

是啊！昨天 明明 还下着大雨，

shì a ！ zuó tiān mínɡ mínɡ hái xià zhe dà yǔ ，

What! Yesterday, it was still raining heavily,

00:00 / 00:05

今天就出大 太阳 了！

jīn tiān jiù chū dà tài yánɡ le！

but the sun is shining today!

00:00 / 00:03

天气预报 说，今天天气 晴朗 呢.

tiān qì yù bào shuō ， jīn tiān tiān qì qínɡ lǎnɡ ne.

The weather forecast said that the weather is sunny today.

00:00 / 00:04

你一直 撑着雨伞 干嘛 ?

nǐ yì zhí chēnɡ zhe yú sǎn ɡàn mɑ?

Why don’t you still hold with an umbrella?

00:00 / 00:03

太阳 那么 大，我 怕晒黑 !

tài yánɡ nà me dà ， wǒ pà shài hēi！

The sunlight is so bright, I am afraid of getting tanned.

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一个大男人，还怕什么变黑的。

yí ɡè dà nán rén ， hái pà shén me biàn hēi de 。

A big man, afraid of your skin getting tanned.

00:00 / 00:05

你沒听说过吗 ? 一白遮三丑。

nǐ méi tīnɡ shuō ɡuò mɑ ？ yì bái zhē sān chǒu 。

Haven’t you heard of it? White skin can hide three ugly shortcomings.

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Content

00:00 / 01:04

Vocabulary to know

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散步 [ sàn bù ] (v-o)

Go for a walk

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我们去公园散散步吧 !

wǒ men qù ɡōnɡ yuán sàn sàn bù bɑ !

Let's go for a walk in the park!

00:00 / 00:02

多 (多么) [ duō (duō me) ] (adv)

HSK L3 Unit 16

Very, to a great extent

00:00 / 00:04

快看，这儿多么漂亮啊 !

kuài kàn ， zhèr duō me piāo liàng ā !

Look, how beautiful this place is!

00:00 / 00:02

明明 [ mínɡ mínɡ ] (adv)

Obviously, undoubtedly

00:00 / 00:04

你明明就是这么说的！

nǐ mínɡ mínɡ jiù shì zhè me shuō de！

That's exactly what you said！

00:00 / 00:01

着 [ zhe ] (part)

Used after a verb to express action in progress

00:00 / 00:03

外面下着大雨。

wài miàn xià zhe dà yǔ 。

It's raining heavily outside.

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太阳 [ tài yánɡ ] (n)

A little / some

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今天是阴天，没有太阳。

jīn tiān shì yīn tiān ， méi yǒu tài yáng 。

There is no sun and it's cloudy today.

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天气预报 [ tiān qì yù bào ] (n)

Weather forecast

00:00 / 00:05

每天早上我都听天气预报。

měi tiān zǎo shɑnɡ wǒ dōu tīnɡ tiān qì yù bào 。

I listen to the weather forecast every morning.

00:00 / 00:02

晴朗 [ qínɡ lǎnɡ ] (adj)

Sunny and bright

00:00 / 00:04

今天真是晴朗的一天！

jīn tiān zhēn shì qínɡ lǎnɡ de yì tiān ！

What a sunny day today!

00:00 / 00:02

撑 [ chēnɡ ] (v)

To open, unfurl

00:00 / 00:04

他在帮他的朋友撑伞。

tā zài bānɡ tā de pénɡ you chēnɡ sǎn 。

He is holding an umbrella for his friends.

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雨伞 [ yú sǎn ] (n)

Umbrella

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这不是我的雨伞。

zhè bú shì wǒ de yú sǎn 。

This is not my umbrella.

Rules of Grammar

多 (duō) / 多么 (duō me)

" 多 duō / 多么 duō me " is translated into "very" in English, is used to intensify adjectives. The structure is " Subject + 多 duō + Adjective "
Difference between "多 duō " and " 很 hěn "
"很 hěn " means "very" as well. However, "很 hěn " cannot be used in exclamatory sentences while " 多 duō " is used only for exclamations.

Example:

" 多美啊！duō měi ā ！" (It’s so beautiful!)
" 今天天气多舒服啊！jīn tiān tiān qì duō shū fu ! " (Today’s weather is so nice!)

一直 ( yì zhí )

" 一直 yì zhí " is used to express that somebody has been continuously doing something, or that something will continuously happen in the future.
The structure is " Subject + 一直 yì zhí + Predicate "

Example:

" 他一直很忙。 tā yì zhí hěn mánɡ 。" (He is always very busy.)
" 我一直在学习中文。wǒ yì zhí zài xué xí zhōnɡ wén 。" I have been studying Chinese all along.

Recap

00:00 / 01:04

Write Chinese

是 [ shì ] (v)

HSK L1 Unit 2

下雨[ xià yǔ ] (v)

HSK L1 Unit 13

Extended Learning

(1) " 一白遮三丑 yì bái zhē sān chǒu "

There is an old saying in Chinese, " 一白遮三丑 yì bái zhē sān chǒu " (white skin can hide three ugly shortcomings). From this expression, it is not hard to see how important the fair skin is to Chinese people, in particularly, girls are fond of protecting skin from direct strong sunlight by using a sun umbrella, protective clothing or sunscreen on sunny days in order to avoid sunlight from getting their skin tanned.

(2) Some useful vocabulary about weather conditions as follows.

" 热 rè " (hot)
" 温暖 wēn nuǎn " (warm)
" 冷 lěng " (cold)
" 下雨 xià yǔ " (raining)
" 下雪 xià xuě " (snowing)
" 大风 dà fēng " (windy)
" 多云 duō yún " (cloudy)
" 有雾 yǒu wù " (foggy)
" 潮湿 cháo shī " (moist)
" 干 gān " (dry)

Open Class Chinese - Daily Mandarin-

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