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Daily lessons · Day 23 of 90

Weather and seasons

The most useful small talk in Japan

Weather is the most reliable small talk in Japan and nobody treats it as filler. It is also grammatically useful, because talking about seasons introduces なります, to become, which is how Japanese expresses change of any kind. Two things at once: something safe to say to a stranger, and a verb you will use for the rest of your learning.

Describing the weather

Mostly い-adjectives, so everything from day 15 applies:

kyō wa atsui desu ne.
It's hot today, isn't it.
あつい hot, さむい cold. ね invites agreement.
ame ga futte imasu.
It's raining.
ふります to fall. が because あめ is the subject.
ii tenki desu ne.
Nice weather, isn't it.
From day 20. Still the best opening line there is.
ashita no tenki wa dō desu ka.
What's the weather like tomorrow?
どう how, and の linking tomorrow to weather.
Why it works

Note あつい for hot weather and あたたかい for pleasantly warm, and that あつい also has a second word written differently for hot objects. In kana they look identical, which is one of the places where kanji genuinely helps: 暑い is hot weather, 熱い is a hot cup of tea. You will meet both in the kanji course.

The four seasons

Japan takes its seasons seriously, and so does its small talk:

haru / natsu
spring / summer
はる brings the cherry blossom, なつ brings the humidity.
aki / fuyu
autumn / winter
あき is widely held to be the best season, and it is.
tsuyu
the rainy season
June into July. A season in its own right here.
natsu ga suki desu.
I like summer.
が with すき, from day 10.
Why it works

つゆ, the rainy season, is treated as a fifth season and is talked about the way Britain talks about a cold snap. If you are in Japan in June, つゆですね is a completely natural thing to say to anyone, and it will get you a real reply rather than a polite one.

なります, to become

How Japanese says something is changing:

samuku narimashita.
It's got cold.
い-adjective drops い and adds く before なります.
genki ni narimashita.
I've got better.
な-adjectives and nouns take に instead.
haru ni narimashita.
Spring has come.
Literally it has become spring.
jōzu ni narimashita ne.
You've got better at it.
A genuine compliment, and a kind one to give.
Why it works

The pattern is worth learning as a pair: く for い-adjectives, に for everything else. It is the same split you have met all week, and it turns up again with しました, to make something become. Once you have なります you can talk about change, which is most of what conversation about the weather actually is.

Carry over, from earlier days

kyō wa atsui desu ne.
It's hot today, isn't it.
ame ga futte imasu.
It's raining.
samuku narimashita.
It's got cold.
ashita no tenki wa dō desu ka.
What's the weather like tomorrow?

Check yourself

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