It’s Getting Cold in Here

| Fri, 11/15/2019 - 01:18
It’s Getting Cold in Here

As the temperatures start to cool in many places in Italy, it can be useful to have the right vocabulary to talk about the change in weather. Italians love to comment on the weather as much as we do! Here is a handy guide to having a conversation about the weather with your Italian neighbours, colleagues, friends or family.

Let’s start with some simple questions:

Com’è il tempo oggi? – What’s the weather like today?

Fa freddo? – Is it cold?

C’è la pioggia? – Is it raining?

C’è la neve? – Is it snowing?

C’è il vento? – Is it windy?

 

Freezing cold

 

If the weather is particularly cold, there are some options you can choose from to express this:

 

Fa freddo – It’s cold

Fa freddissimo – It’s really cold

È gelido – It’s freezing

È ghiacciato – It’s frosty

Fa un freddo cane – It’s freezing cold or bitter cold (literally this means it is a cold dog!)

Fa un freddo pungente – It’s bitterly cold

Ho la pelle d’oca – I have goose pimples

C’è un’ondata di freddo – There’s a cold snap, a cold spell or a period of cold weather

Tutto è coperto di ghiaccio – Everything is covered in frost

Sto congelando – I am freezing cold

 

Grey and cloudy

 

To talk about clouds, mist and fog, you can use some of these words:

 

Ci sono le nuvole / È nuvoloso / C’è una copertura nuvolosa – It’s cloudy or it’s overcast

C’è una nuvola scura – There are dark clouds

Ci sono le nuvole temporalesca – There are rainclouds

C’è la nebbia – It’s foggy

C’è la foschia – It’s misty

 

A snow storm

 

If the temperature falls below freezing, you may see snow or ice in many places in Italy during the winter, here are some phrases you could use:

 

Nevica / C’è la neve – It’s snowing

C’è la bufera di neve – There’s a snow storm

Guardi i fiocchi di neve – Look at the snow flakes

Nevischia  – It’s sleeting / there’s sleet