How to Talk About Basic Weather Conditions

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Russian by RussianPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about weather conditions in Russian.

For example, "It's sunny." is

Солнечно. (Solnechno.)

Milena Maslova is in sunny Moscow.

She’s on a long-distance call with Rose Reznikova , her former colleague, who asks about the current weather.

Before you hear their conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

погода (pogoda)

"weather"

погода

солнечно (solnechno)

"sunny"

солнечно

Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response.

Ready?

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Солнечно. (Solnechno.)

Once more with the English translation.

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

"How's the weather?"

Солнечно. (Solnechno.)

"It's sunny."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Rose asks,

"How's the weather?"

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

First is Как (Kak), which translates as "how." Как . Как.

Note, как (kak) is from как есть (kak yest') "how is," where есть (yest’) "is" is omitted.

Next is погода (pogoda), "weather." Погода . Погода.

All together, it’s Как погода? (Kak pogoda?), literally "How weather," but it translates as "How's the weather?"

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Let’s take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Milena says,

"It’s sunny?"

Солнечно. (Solnechno.)

Солнечно (Solnechno) literally means "sunnily," but it translates as "[It's] sunny."

Солнечно (Solnechno.) .

Солнечно.

The pattern is

WEATHER CONDITION.

"WEATHER CONDITION."

WEATHER CONDITION.

To use this pattern, simply replace the WEATHER CONDITION placeholder with the current weather condition.

Note: This pattern requires a word belonging to a subset of Russian adverbs sometimes called categories of state.

Imagine it's cloudy, облачно (oblachno). Облачно . Облачно.

Say

"It's cloudy."

Ready?

Облачно (Oblachno).

"It's cloudy."

Облачно (Oblachno).

There is another pattern that is often used to talk about weather.

Погода WEATHER CONDITION. (Pogoda WEATHER CONDITION. )

"The weather is WEATHER CONDITION."

Note: This pattern requires a feminine form of an adjective to agree with погода (pogoda), "weather," which is also feminine.

Let’s try this new pattern.

Say

"The weather is cloudy."

Literally, "weather cloudy."

The feminine form of облачный (oblachnyy), "Сloudy", is облачная (oblachnaya).

Ready?

Погода облачная. (Pogoda oblachnaya.)

"The weather is cloudy."

Погода облачная. (Pogoda oblachnaya.)

In Russian, the most common way to answer the question Как погода? (Kak pogoda?), "How's the weather," is to respond with only one word that describes the weather.

However, if you want to be more specific about when, add an adverb referencing the point in time.

For example,

Сегодня солнечно (Segodnya solnechno). "Today [it's] sunny." Сегодня солнечно.

First is сегодня (segodnya), "today." Сегодня . Сегодня.

Сегодня (Segodnya) is from сегодня есть (segodnya yest’), "today is," as in "today is sunny," where есть (yest’) "is" is omitted.

Next is солнечно (solnechno), literally "sunnily," but it translates as "sunny." Солнечно.

Together Сегодня солнечно (Segodnya solnechno). "Today [is] sunny." Сегодня солнечно.

Again, the key patterns are

WEATHER CONDITION.

"WEATHER CONDITION."

WEATHER CONDITION.

And

Погода WEATHER CONDITION. (Pogoda WEATHER CONDITION. )

"[The weather] is WEATHER CONDITION."

Погода WEATHER CONDITION.

Let's look at some examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Солнечно (Solnechno).

"It's sunny."

Солнечно (Solnechno).

Облачно (Oblachno).

"It's cloudy."

Облачно (Oblachno).

Погода холодная (Pogoda kholodnaya).

"It's cold weather."

Погода холодная (Pogoda kholodnaya).

Влажно. (Vlazhno.)

"It's humid."

Влажно. (Vlazhno.)

Идёт дождь. (Idyot dozhd’.)

"It's raining."

Идёт дождь. (Idyot dozhd’.)

Did you notice how the native speaker used a phrase instead of a single word?

Идёт дождь. (Idyot dozhd’.)

"It's raining."

First is идёт (idyot), "going." Идёт . Идёт.

Идёт (idyot) is from идти (idti), "to go." Идти.

Next is дождь (dozhd’), "rain." Дождь . Дождь.

Together, it’s Идёт дождь (Idyot dozhd’). Literally, "going rain," but it translates as "It's raining."

This pattern is:

Идёт WEATHER CONDITION.

"It’s WEATHER CONDITION."

This pattern can be used to talk about weather elements such as rain, snow, and hail.

To use this pattern, simply replace the WEATHER CONDITION placeholder with the current weather condition.

Note: This pattern requires a noun.

Similar to идёт дождь (idyot dozhd’) is дождливо (dozhdlivo), also "It’s raining." Both phrases translate as "It’s raining," but идёт дождь (idyot dozhd’) conveys that "It’s raining," at the moment, and дождливо (dozhdlivo) describes an ongoing state of the weather over one or more days.

Let’s review the key words.

облачно (oblachno)

"cloudy"

облачно

Literally: "cloudly"

влажно (vlazhno)

"humid"

влажно

Literally: "humidly"

холодный (kholodnyy)

"cold"

холодный

дождливо (dozhdlivo)

"rainy"

дождливо

Literally: "rainly"

Идёт дождь (Idyot dozhd’).

"It’s raining."

Идёт дождь.

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "weather?"

погода (pogoda)

Do you remember how Rose Reznikova asks,

"How's the weather?"

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Do you remember how Milena Maslova says,

"It's sunny."

Солнечно. (Solnechno.)

And how to say "The weather is cold."

Literally, "weather cold."

Погода холодная. (Pogoda kholodnaya.)

Do you remember how to say

"It’s raining."

Идёт дождь. (Idyot dozhd’.)

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Milena , and you're in Moscow, where it's sunny. "Sunny" is солнечно (solnechno). Respond to the question.

Ready?

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Солнечно (Solnechno).

Listen again and repeat.

Солнечно (Solnechno).

Let's try another.

Imagine you're Rose Reznikova , and it’s raining in Krasnodar. "Rain" is дождь (dozhd’).

Ready?

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Идёт дождь (Idyot dozhd’).

Listen again and repeat.

Идёт дождь (Idyot dozhd’).

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you're Miroslav’s friend Sergey Svalov , and you’re in Norilsk, where the weather is cold. "Cold" is холодный (kholodnyy) in Russian.

Ready?

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Погода холодная. (Pogoda kholodnaya.)

Listen again and repeat.

Погода холодная. (Pogoda kholodnaya.)

In this lesson, you learned how to talk about weather in Russian. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of talking about the weather. Let’s review.

Do you remember how to say "hot?"

жарко (zharko)

And do you remember how to say,

"How hot."

Как жарко! (Kak zharko!)

Imagine you're Jack Jones , and it's cold outside.

Do you remember how to say "cold" in Russian?

холодно (kholodno)

Now, tell your friend that it's cold.

Как холодно! (Kak kholodno!)

Да, сегодня холодно. (Da, segodnya kholodno.)

Listen again and repeat.

Как холодно! (Kak kholodno!)

On a different occasion you're traveling to St. Petersburg and talking with your friend on the phone. Your friend asks how the weather is, and It's raining.

Do you remember how to say "rain" in Russian?

дождь (dozhd’)

Respond to your friend and say, that it's raining.

Как погода? (Kak pogoda?)

Идёт дождь. (Idyot dozhd’.)

Listen again and repeat.

Идёт дождь. (Idyot dozhd’.)

Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Talk About the Weather unit of this course.

Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills.

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