Talking About Weather
Starting a conversation with a topic about weather is a universal manner that can be used between friends and even among strangers. Understanding how to express weather conditions in Japanese can help you start and join in a conversation. Here we introduce a couple of expressions divided into three common grammatical structures:
1. (adjective) + desu
Ex. Atsui desu. (It’s hot.)
This is the simplest structure, and you can use any adjective to describe a weather condition. “Desu” can be omitted from the conversation, but that may sound too casual and sometimes rude. Adding the suffix “ne” at the end can make the sentence sound friendlier.
Ex. Atsui desu ne. (It’s hot, isn’t it?)
[Common adjectives: atsui (hot), atatakai (warm), mushiatsui (humid), samui (cold), suzushii (cool) ]
2. (noun) + desu
Ex. Ame desu. (It’s rain.)
This is another simple structure. It may seem like it’s completely the same structure, but it would conjugate differently when making it past tense and progressive as well as with connectives, so it is important to differentiate nouns from adjectives.
[Common nouns: hare (good weather), ame (rain), yuki (snow), niwaka-ame (shower), arare (hail), kaze (wind), kiri (fog), kosame (light rain), koyuki (light snow), oame (heavy rain), oyuki (heavy snow) ]
3. (noun) + ga + (adjective) desu
Ex. Kaze ga tsuyoi desu. (It’s windy.)
This is a little more elaborate expression and gives you chances to describe in more detail
[Common phrases: kaze ga tsumetai (The wind is chilling), ame ga hageshii (It rains hard), kimochi ga ii (It is pleasant), kion ga takai/hikui (The temperature is high/low), kiri ga fukai (It’s really foggy) ]
Next month, we will introduce more expressions for weather, using verbs.
B-kyu Gourmet 
