Weather Expressions
Many weather expressions have no subject: Plouă means “It is raining”. Expressions with a noun subject follow ordinary agreement: Este un grad but Sunt două grade.
How It Works
Many weather expressions use the third-person singular without an English-style 'it'.
Weather verbs: Plouă (it is raining), Ninge (it is snowing), and Tună (it is thundering). These are impersonal in their literal weather uses.
A fi + a condition: E frig (it is cold), E cald (it is hot), E frumos (the weather is nice). Adverbial descriptions stay unchanged.
A named subject: Other expressions have ordinary subjects and agreement: Bate vântul (the wind is blowing).
Temperature: Sunt două grade. / Sunt douăzeci de grade. Numerals follow the usual de rule: a final group of 20–99, or an exact hundred/thousand, takes de.
Personal sensations: Use a dative pronoun with a fi: Mi-e frig (I feel cold), Mi-e cald (I feel hot). This describes how a person feels, rather than the weather itself.
Other tenses: Ploua (it was raining), A plouat (it rained), Va ploua (it will rain).
Examples (5)
- Plouă de trei zile și nu se mai oprește.
It has been raining for three days and it won't stop.
Word by Word: Rains of three days and not itself anymore stops.
The verb 'plouă' is used alone without a subject pronoun.
- E soare afară, dar bate un vânt rece.
It’s sunny outside, but a cold wind is blowing.
Word by Word: Is sun outside, but blows a wind cold.
'E soare' uses the verb 'to be' plus a noun to describe the condition.
- Mâine va fi foarte cald, vor fi 20 de grade.
Tomorrow it will be very warm; the temperature will be 20 degrees.
Word by Word: Tomorrow will be very warm, will be 20 of degrees.
Note the use of 'de' after the number 20, as required by Romanian grammar.
- Mi-e frig pentru că ninge.
I am cold because it is snowing.
Word by Word: To-me is cold because snows.
'Mi-e frig' describes a personal sensation, while 'ninge' is a weather event.
- Se face întuneric foarte devreme iarna.
It gets dark very early in the winter.
Word by Word: Itself makes dark very early winter-the.
'Se face' indicates a change in the ambient state.
Common Mistakes
Using a dummy subject pronoun like 'it' in English.
El plouă afară.Plouă afară.Plouă is an impersonal verb form here. Adding el introduces a masculine personal subject and does not translate English weather it.
Omitting de after twenty in a temperature.
Sunt 20 grade.Sunt 20 de grade.Twenty takes de before a noun: douăzeci de grade. Larger numbers follow the usual rule for their final group of digits; the rule is not simply 'every number above 20'.
Using 'a avea' (to have) for physical sensations like hunger or cold.
Am frig.Mi-e frig.Unlike French or Spanish, Romanian uses 'to be' + dative pronoun (Mi-e, Ți-e) to express feeling cold, hot, or hungry.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Learn common third-person singular weather verbs and expressions with a fi. Many are impersonal; expressions with a noun subject, including temperatures in grade, follow normal subject–verb agreement.
Related Patterns
- de After Numbers
Temperatures follow the ordinary numeral rule for de: douăzeci de grade, but o sută unu grade.
Level 1 - Impersonal se
Used with 'a face' (se face) to describe weather transitions or changes in state.
Level 3 - îmi / îți / îi / ne / vă / leIndirect-Object Clitics
Dative clitics are used with weather terms to express personal physical sensations (e.g., 'Mi-e cald').
Level 2 - Future With o să
Commonly used in conversational Romanian to talk about upcoming weather changes.
Level 2 - Future With voi
The standard form used in formal weather forecasts and news reports.
Level 2
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Weather Expressions in Bubblegum
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