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Mythic Mandarin

How's the weather? 怎么样

HSK 1 Unit 8: Weather, health and celebrations · Lesson 1 of 7 · About 15 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can ask about the weather and other things with 怎么样, and say it is hot, cold, raining or snowing.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 知道 mean?

    1. plane
    2. to know (a fact)
    3. can, may
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, to know (a fact).

    知道 (zhīdào) means to know (a fact).

  2. Characters

    Which word means “to know (a fact)”?

    1. 知道
    2. 上海
    3. 火车
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 知道.

    “to know (a fact)” is 知道 (zhīdào).

New words

  • 天气tiānqìweather
  • 下雨xiàyǔto rain
  • 下雪xiàxuěto snow
  • 怎么样zěnmeyànghow is it, how about

怎么样: how is it?

怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) at the end of a sentence asks how something is. After a suggestion, it means how about it?

  • 今天天气怎么样？

    Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?

    How's the weather today?

  • 你的工作怎么样？

    Nǐ de gōngzuò zěnmeyàng?

    How's your job?

  • 我们明天去，怎么样？

    Wǒmen míngtiān qù, zěnmeyàng?

    How about going tomorrow?

Talking about the weather

Rain and snow are verbs with 下 (fall): 下雨, it rains; 下雪, it snows. Hot and cold are adjectives with 很 or 太…了.

  • 今天下雨。

    Jīntiān xiàyǔ.

    It's raining today.

  • 北京很冷。

    Běijīng hěn lěng.

    It's cold in Beijing.

  • 上海太热了！

    Shànghǎi tài rè le!

    Shanghai is so hot!

  • Not: 今天是冷。

    But: 今天很冷。 Jīntiān hěn lěng.

    No 是 before an adjective.

Characters

  • 样 = 木

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

Beijing and Shanghai

David in Beijing calls Liu Fang in Shanghai.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. What is the weather in Beijing today?

    1. hot and sunny
    2. cold and snowing
    3. cold and raining
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, cold and snowing.

    大卫 says 很冷！今天下雪.

  2. Listening

    What is the weather in Shanghai today?

    1. snowing
    2. very cold
    3. raining
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, raining.

    刘芳 says 上海不冷，今天下雨.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 刘芳

    大卫Dàwèi，北京Běijīng今天jīntiān天气tiānqì怎么样zěnmeyàng？

    David, what's the weather like in Beijing today?

  2. 大卫

    很Hěn冷lěng！今天Jīntiān下雪xiàxuě。上海Shànghǎi呢ne？

    Very cold! It's snowing today. And Shanghai?

  3. 刘芳

    上海Shànghǎi不bù冷lěng，今天jīntiān下雨xiàyǔ。

    Shanghai isn't cold. It's raining today.

  4. 大卫

    明天Míngtiān呢ne？

    And tomorrow?

  5. 刘芳

    明天Míngtiān天气tiānqì很hěn好hǎo。

    Tomorrow the weather is good.

  6. 大卫

    周末Zhōumò我wǒ去qù上海Shànghǎi，怎么样zěnmeyàng？

    How about I come to Shanghai at the weekend?

  7. 刘芳

    太Tài好hǎo了le！

    Great!

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 大卫，北京今天天气怎么样？

    Dàwèi, Běijīng jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?

    David, what's the weather like in Beijing today?

  • 明天天气很好。

    Míngtiān tiānqì hěn hǎo.

    Tomorrow the weather is good.

  • 上海不冷，今天下雨。

    Shànghǎi bù lěng, jīntiān xiàyǔ.

    Shanghai isn't cold. It's raining today.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 天气 mean?

    1. weather
    2. name
    3. behind, at the back
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, weather.

    天气 (tiānqì) means weather.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “to rain”?

    1. 下雨
    2. 跑步
    3. 下雪
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 下雨.

    “to rain” is 下雨 (xiàyǔ).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 下雪 (to snow)?

    1. xiàxué
    2. xiàxuě
    3. xiàxuē
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, xiàxuě.

    下雪 is read xiàxuě. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    怎么样 zěnmeyàng

    1. very, extremely
    2. how is it, how about
    3. to be (A is B)
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, how is it, how about.

    You heard 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng): how is it, how about.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 天气 (weather). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: tiānqì

    天气 is tiānqì in pinyin.

  6. In context

    You want to ask a friend how their new job is going. What do you say?

    1. 你的工作是什么？
    2. 你工作吗？
    3. 你的工作怎么样？
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 你的工作怎么样？.

    你的工作怎么样？: 你的工作怎么样: how's your job?

  7. Grammar

    Which sentence means It's cold today?

    1. 今天是冷。
    2. 今天冷是。
    3. 今天很冷。
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 今天很冷。.

    今天很冷。 Adjective with 很, no 是.

  8. Listening

    Listen. What is the weather like?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    明天下雨，很冷。 Míngtiān xiàyǔ, hěn lěng.

    1. snowy and cold
    2. sunny and hot
    3. rainy and cold
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, rainy and cold.

    明天下雨，很冷: rain, and cold.

  9. Fill the gap

    Complete: It's snowing.

    下＿＿。

    1. 雨
    2. 冷
    3. 雪
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 雪.

    下雪: it's snowing.

Weather report

Give a short weather report for your city out loud, for today and tomorrow.

  1. 今天天气…。
  2. 明天…。
  3. Suggest something for the weekend with 怎么样？

Sentence frames

  • 今天＿＿，很＿＿。

    Jīntiān ＿＿, hěn ＿＿.

    Today it's ..., it's very ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I can ask 天气怎么样？ and answer.
  • I can make a suggestion with …，怎么样？

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: I don't feel well