The weather in the past tense

Starting up a conversation in French is much easier when you talk about . . . 

THE WEATHER 

FOOD

So in this week’s video, we look at the weather - but in the past tense! I would forgive you for thinking you start with “it was . . .” and therefore . . .”C’était . . .”

But we need to wean you off translating and lean you into thinking in French! In this mini-lesson, you  discover:

• Three ways to start weather phrases in the past tense

• How you can speak out loud to help you hear French better!

• What was the weather like for you (yesterday, on holiday)?

• What was the weather like in other places of the world recently, as in comparison to today? You tell me!

The usual way to talk about weather forecast in French. 

When it comes to talk about the weather forecast in the past, you will need the verb “faire” (make/ do). 

The questions is:

• Quel temps a-t-il fait ?  >>> What was the weather like?

And for your answers, the structure is

• Il a fait…  >>> It was…

Or the opposite:

• Il n’a pas fait…  >>> It was not…

Using this structure, let’s start with this example:

• Il a fait beau, mais froid  >>> It was nice, but cold, weather.

If you desire to review how to describe the weather forecast in the present tense, feel free to watch this video.  

Let’s continue…

• Il a fait grand bleu >>> It was a beautiful blue sky day.

Note that translating word for word wouldn’t work.

What about bad weather?

• Il a fait très (vraiment) mauvais >>> It was really bad weather.

• Il n’a pas fait très chaud >>> It wasn’t very hot weather.

4 unique verbs for weather forecast in French. 

You have just seen that the typical impersonal verb for weather forecast is faire. However, there exist a few verbs only to describe the weather. Once more, they are impersonal meaning there’s only one subject: il which is “it” in English.

These 4 verbs are:

• pleuvoir >>> to rain
• neiger >>> to snow

• geler >>> to freeze

• greler >>> to hail

Time to see them in real sentences:

• Il a beaucoup plu la semaine dernière >>> Il rained a lot last week.
• Il a neigé hier >>> It snowed yesterday.
• Il a gelé hier soir >>> It froze last night.
• Il a grêlé ce matin >>> It hailed this morning.

The verb avoir and partitives for weather forecast in French. 

There is another general verb that can be very handy: avoir (to have). However, it involves some specific articles whether it’s masculine, feminine, plural, or negative!

The impersonal structure goes like this:

• Il y avait >>> There was / were
• Il n’y avait pas >>> There was / were no…

Here are examples for you:

• Il y avait des nuages la semaine dernière >>> There were some clouds last week.
• Il y avait de la neige mardi dernier  >>> There was some snow last Tuesday.
• Il y avait des éclaircies avant-hier >>> There were some sunny spells the day before yesterday.
• Il y avait une tempête le mois denier  >>> There was a storm last month.
• Il y avait de la grêle l’année dernière >>> There was some hail last year.
• Il y avait des éclairs cet après-midi  >>> There was some lightning this afternoon.

• Il n’y avait pas de brouillard cet été >>> There was no fog this summer.

• Il n’y avait pas de vent au printemps >>> There was wind in spring.

• Il n’y avait pas de gel l’hiver dernier >>> There was no frost last winter.

How to describe the weather forecast in French. 

In summary, if you wish to talk about the weather forecast in the past, there are 2 impersonal verbs to be general: faire and avoir. The first one is to say if the weather is nice or not and for temperature.

The second one gives details. For this, be sure to check the gender and number of the following words and pay attention if it’s a negative sentence where the article de or d’ is required.

In order to be more specific, there are proper verbs like neiger, geler, grêler, pleuvoir… The good news is that you only need to learn one subject since they only work with the pronoun “il” (it).

Concerning the tense, for “action” verbs, you’ll want to choose the passé composé: il a plu, il a neigé, il a fait beau… and for descriptions, you’ll prefer the imperfect: il y avait des nuages, il y avait du vent…

So, quel temps a-t-il fait? Time to practise in order to play with the new words. You can always share your examples with me - I love it when I can help!