HSK 1 · Lesson 12天气怎么样？ How’s the weather?

Weather, adjectives as predicates (很/非常/太), the question 怎么样.

Speed:Male voice:

Dialogues

Today’s weather

A
今天天气怎么样？
Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?
How’s the weather today?
B
今天很冷，下雨了。
Jīntiān hěn lěng, xià yǔ le.
It’s cold today, and it’s started raining.
A
北京冷吗？
Běijīng lěng ma?
Is it cold in Beijing?
B
北京冬天非常冷，夏天太热了！
Běijīng dōngtiān fēicháng lěng, xiàtiān tài rè le!
Beijing is very cold in winter and too hot in summer!
A
明天呢？
Míngtiān ne?
And tomorrow?
B
明天不下雨，风也不大。
Míngtiān bú xià yǔ, fēng yě bú dà.
No rain tomorrow, and not much wind.

New words

📝 Worksheet for this lesson

Grammar

1. The adjective is the predicate

Subject + 很 + adjective

“It is cold today” is 今天很冷 — no 是. Here 很 barely means “very”; it just links — without it the sentence sounds like a comparison. Stronger: 非常 “very”, 太…了 “too”. Negative: 不 without 很: 今天不冷.

北京非常大。
Běijīng fēicháng dà.
Beijing is very big.
今天真热！
Jīntiān zhēn rè!
It’s really hot today!

2. 怎么样 — “how is …?”

X 怎么样？ asks for an opinion or state: 天气怎么样？ “how’s the weather?”, 这本书怎么样？ “what’s the book like?”. At the end of a suggestion: 我们去吃饭，怎么样？ “let’s go eat, how about it?”.

你的汉语老师怎么样？
Nǐ de Hànyǔ lǎoshī zěnmeyàng?
What’s your Chinese teacher like?

Exercises

1. Fix the mistake

  1. 今天是冷。
    Answer
    今天很冷。
  2. 今天不很冷。
    Answer
    今天不冷。(or 今天不太冷 “not very cold”)

2. Translate

  1. Will it rain tomorrow?
    Answer
    明天下雨吗？
  2. Summer is too hot!
    Answer
    夏天太热了！
  3. What’s the weather like in Moscow?
    Answer
    莫斯科天气怎么样？

💡 Did you know?: North and south

China is huge: Harbin can hit −30° in winter, while Guangzhou never sees snow. Homes in the south often have no central heating — the line runs roughly along the Huai River.

Phrase audio — Microsoft speech synthesis (voices Xiaoxiao, Yunyang, Yunxi); syllables and some words — native recordings (audio-cmn, CC BY-SA).