Today's Weather

In Korea, people talk about the weather all the time. When you meet a friend, you might say "날씨 좋아요!" (nalssi joayo!, "Nice weather!"). In this lesson you'll pick up the basic words you need to describe the weather.

Basic Weather Words

'맑다' (makda) describes a clean sky with the sun out — it means 'sunny' or 'clear.' Its opposite, '흐리다' (heurida), means 'cloudy,' with lots of clouds overhead.

Rain and Snow

'비' (bi) is 'rain' and '눈' (nun) is 'snow.' When it rains you say '비가 와요' (biga wayo), and when it snows you say '눈이 와요' (nuni wayo). The verb '오다' (oda) means 'to come.'

Hot and Cold Weather

'덥다' (deopda) means 'hot' and '춥다' (chupda) means 'cold.' When it's hot, say '더워요' (deowoyo); when it's cold, say '추워요' (chuwoyo). Notice how the 'ㅂ' shifts to 'ㅜ' when these words conjugate.

Korean	Romanization	English
맑다	makda	to be clear/sunny
흐리다	heurida	to be cloudy
비가 오다	biga oda	to rain
눈이 오다	nuni oda	to snow
바람이 불다	barami bulda	to be windy
덥다	deopda	to be hot
춥다	chupda	to be cold
안개가 끼다	angaega kkida	to be foggy

Words for Degree

Place '조금' (jogeum, 'a little'), '많이' (mani, 'a lot'), or '너무' (neomu, 'too much') in front of a weather word to say how much. For example: '조금 추워요' (jogeum chuwoyo, 'a little cold').

💡 Tip: Tip: '눈' (nun) means both 'snow' and 'eye' — they sound exactly the same! The context of the sentence makes the meaning clear.