Español — Weather & impersonal verbs
To talk about the weather Spanish uses impersonal verbs that appear only in the third person singular: llover (it rains), nevar (it snows), granizar (it hails), amanecer (day breaks). Many everyday states use hacer — hace frío, hace calor, hace sol, hace viento — or hay, as in hay niebla and hay nubes.
How it works
Impersonal weather verbs have no subject and are conjugated only in the third person singular: Llueve mucho en abril; Nieva en la montaña; Ayer granizó; Amanece a las siete. Alongside them, hacer describes conditions — Hace mucho frío hoy; Hace sol — and hay states the presence of something in the air: Hay niebla; Hay nubes.
Examples
| Pattern | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| verbo impersonal | Llueve. | It is raining. |
| verbo impersonal | Nieva en la sierra. | It is snowing in the mountains. |
| verbo impersonal | Ayer granizó. | It hailed yesterday. |
| verbo impersonal | Amanece a las siete. | Day breaks at seven. |
| hacer + sustantivo | Hace frío / calor. | It is cold / hot. |
| hacer + sustantivo | Hace sol y viento. | It is sunny and windy. |
| hay + sustantivo | Hay niebla. | It is foggy. |
| hay + sustantivo | Hay nubes. | It is cloudy. |
Good to know
Choose the right frame: temperature and conditions take hacer (Hace frío, not *Está frío* for the air), while niebla, nubes, sol and viento often take hay or hace but never llover/nevar. Also avoid adding a subject like *ello* — say simply Llueve, never *Ello llueve*. These verbs can gain a figurative subject, though: Le llovieron las críticas (criticism rained down on him).