16 Phrases to Talk about the Weather and Avoid Mistakes — Como está o tempo?

Imagine that you are going to Brazil soon. You are talking on Skype with a Brazilian friend and want to ask how the weather is there today.

This simple conversation is a great source of confusion among Portuguese learners. In this lesson you will learn relevant vocabulary and 16 common phrases that we use to talk about the weather. I will also show you a few mistakes that you should avoid.

Here’s the video:

Use the Verb Estar to Talk about The Weather

Below is a list of 16 common phrases to talk about the weather in Portuguese.

Notice that all of them use the verb Estar. Therefore these are sentences you use when you are talking about how the weather is at the moment.

Como está o tempo? = How is the weather?
O tempo está bom. = The weather is good.
Está ensolarado. = It’s sunny.
Está sol. = It’s sunny.
Está fazendo sol. = It’s sunny.
Está quente. = It’s hot.
Está calor. = It’s hot.
Está fazendo calor. = It’s hot.
O tempo está ruim. = The weather is bad.
Está nublado. = It’s overcast.
O tempo está fechado. = It’s overcast.
Está chovendo. = It’s raining.
Está nevando. = It’s snowing.
Está ventando. = It’s windy.
Está frio. = It’s cold.
Está fazendo frio. = It’s cold.

To make negative sentences: Just add Não in front of the phrase. For example:

Não está frio. = It isn’t cold.

Good to Know

We don’t have “it”

All the sentences above that start with the verb Estar would start with “It” in English. Did you notice that? You will see that often in your Portuguese studies.

Chove chuva

One of the phrases above was: Está chovendo.

The verb is: Chover

The noun is: a Chuva

Notice how the verb is spelled with an “o” and the noun with a “u”.

You can sing along with Jorge Ben to keep this in mind. He has a song called Chove Chuva. Listen to the song and follow along with the lyrics here.

Nevar

In Portuguese, to snow = nevar. It is a regular verb.

Ventar

I love this one. The sentence above means “It’s windy”. Guess what? We have the verb ventar. So literally what the sentence above says is “It’s winding”, just like we say raining or snowing.

Calor, Quente and Frio: Say It Right in Brazilian Portuguese

The correct use of the words calor, quente, and frio with or without the preposition com is a source of great confusion among Portuguese speakers. I hope to clarify that for you here.

Let’s start by learning what the words mean:

Calor = heat
Quente = hot
Frio = cold

Below are phrases that you should memorize. Be careful not to mix when to use and not to use the preposition com. It totally changes the meaning of the sentence.

Com calor, Com frio

Estou com calor. = I’m feeling hot.

Estou com frio. = I’m feeling cold.

Without the preposition

It completely changes what you are saying when you do not use the preposition com with the words quente and frio.

Estou quente.

This does not mean that you are feeling hot because of the heat. It means that your skin is hot to the touch, such as when you have a fever. It’s analogous to saying:

A comida está quente. = The food is hot.
O café está quente. = The coffee is hot.

You can also say:

Está quente. = It is hot.
Está calor. = It is hot. Use this one to talk about the weather only. It cannot be used to talk about your food or coffee.

Similarly:

Estou frio/a.

This does not mean that you are feeling cold. It means that you are cold in the sense that your skin will feel cold to someone else’s touch. It’s analogous to saying: