The weather

Lesson Overview: Talking About The Weather in German

This lesson is designed for A1-level learners and focuses on describing the weather throughout different parts of the day. You will learn to express simple weather phenomena, use time-of-day adverbs effectively, and understand the difference between the negations kein and nicht in German.

Key Language Points

• Tageszeiten als Adverbien: Learn how to use morning (morgens), afternoon (nachmittags), evening (abends), night (nachts), and other expressions to talk about the weather at different times.
• Weather Vocabulary: Common weather nouns like der Regen (rain), der Schnee (snow), der Wind (wind), and die Sonne (sun), as well as descriptive adjectives like heiß (hot) and kalt (cold).
• Negations: Understand when to use kein (to negate nouns, e.g., kein Regenschirm) and nicht (to negate verbs or adjectives) in weather-related sentences.

Examples to Remember

• Morgens scheint die Sonne oft über den Wolken. – In the mornings, the sun often shines above the clouds.
• Nachmittags regnet es manchmal, also nimm eine Jacke mit. – In the afternoon, it sometimes rains, so take a jacket with you.
• Ich habe keinen Regenschirm. – I do not have an umbrella.

Practical Dialogues

Practice real-life conversations about the weather during office chats, walks, or casual talks in a café to improve fluency and familiarity with common expressions.

Verb Conjugation Focus

You will practice present tense forms of essential verbs such as scheinen (to shine), regnen (to rain), bleiben (to remain), and sein (to be) in weather contexts.

Comparing German Weather Talk to English

German often uses adverbs of time to specify when weather occurs, similar to English, but the placement in a sentence can differ. For example, morgens (in the mornings) usually comes at the beginning of the sentence or after the verb. Also, negation with kein is more specific than the simple English “no” or “not” because it replaces the article before a noun. For instance, kein Regen means “no rain,” and this differs from nicht, which negates verbs or adjectives, e.g., es regnet nicht (it does not rain).

Useful Weather-Related Words and Phrases

• der Regen – rain
• der Schnee – snow
• der Nebel – fog
• der Sturm – storm
• der Wind – wind
• die Sonne – sun
• heiß – hot
• kalt – cold
• morgens – in the morning
• nachmittags – in the afternoon
• abends – in the evening