Weather and Seasons
How to talk about the weather in English — the vocabulary, the impersonal it, and why this is the safest conversation topic there is.
The weather is the most-used small-talk topic in English, and it comes with a grammar quirk you need from day one.
The impersonal "it"
English requires a subject in every sentence, so weather sentences use it — even though it refers to nothing.
It's raining. · It's cold today. · It was sunny yesterday.
❌ Is raining. / ❌ Rains. ✅ It's raining.
This catches speakers of languages that drop the subject.
The core words
Adjectives (with "it's"): sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, snowy, foggy, hot, warm, cool, cold, freezing, wet, dry
Verbs (with "it's + -ing"): raining, snowing, pouring (raining hard)
It's windy and cold. It's pouring — take an umbrella.
Nouns: rain, snow, wind, sun, cloud, storm, fog, ice
Temperature
- It's 20 degrees.
- It's below zero.
- It's boiling. (very hot, informal)
- It's freezing. (very cold — used loosely, not literally 0°C)
The seasons
spring · summer · autumn (US: fall) · winter
Prepositions: in spring, in the summer, in July, on Monday.
Asking and answering
- What's the weather like? — It's lovely. / Not great.
- What's it like outside?
- Is it still raining? — No, it's stopped.
"What's the weather like?" is the fixed question. Not How is the weather?, which sounds translated.
Why it matters socially
A comment on the weather is the standard way to open a conversation with a stranger in English. It is not really about the weather — it is a signal that you are willing to talk.
Cold today, isn't it? — Freezing!
Answering with just "yes" ends the exchange. Add a word.
Test yourself
The quiz below checks the impersonal it and the fixed question.