Learn the key pattern to talk about basic weather conditions
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Xiaoyun Xu asks, |
| "How's the weather?" |
| 天气怎么样？ (Tiānqì zěnmeyàng?) |
| First is, 天气 (tiānqì), "weather." 天气. 天气。 |
| Next is 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng). "how [is]," in this context, as in "how is the weather." 怎么样. 怎么样。 |
| Together, 天气怎么样？(Tiānqì zěnmeyàng?) literally, "Weather how [is]" but translates as "How's the weather?" |
| 天气怎么样？ |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Karen says |
| "It's raining." |
| 在下雨。(Zài xiàyǔ.) |
| First is 在 (zài), which literally means "at." However, when 在 is followed by a verb, it indicates the progressive tense, describing an ongoing action. 在. 在。 |
| Here, 在 is followed by 下雨 (xiàyǔ), which means "to rain." 下雨 |
| It can be divided into two parts. |
| First is 下 (xià), "to come down," in this context. 下. 下. |
| Next is 雨 (yǔ), "rain." 雨. 雨. |
| Together, 下雨 "to rain." 下雨。 |
| Altogether, 在下雨。Translates as, "It's raining." |
| 在下雨。 |
| The pattern is |
| 在 (Zài) {Weather-related verb}。 |
| "It's {Weather-related verb}-ing." |
| 在 (Zài) {Weather-related verb}。 |
| To use this pattern, simply replace {Weather-related verb} with a verb phrase to describe what is going on with current weather conditions. |
| Imagine you're in Harbin, and it's snowing. 下雪 (xiàxuě). 下雪. 下雪。 |
| Say |
| "It's snowing." |
| Ready? |
| 在下雪。(Zài xiàxuě.) |
| "It's snowing." |
| 在下雪。 |
| When using 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) to ask how something is in Chinese, the pattern is {subject} plus 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng). |
| In the conversation, 天气 (tiānqì), the subject, plus 怎么样？ |
| 天气怎么样？ (Tiānqì zěnmeyàng?) "How's the weather?" |
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