English weather and time sentences require a grammatical subject even when nothing specific is being referred to: it is cold, it is raining, it is three o’clock. Lebanese has no matching dummy هو or هي. It names an environmental domain—الجو “the weather/air,” الدنيا “the world/conditions,” الساعة “the time”—or simply uses an impersonal weather expression: الجو منيح، الدنيا برد، عم بتشتي، الساعة تلاتة.
These are several sentence patterns, not one hidden verb “to be.” Adjectives and nouns form present zero-copula sentences, في introduces an environmental condition, and a real weather verb carries its own aspect. Learning which pattern a common expression belongs to is more useful than translating English it.
Environmental topics plus a predicate
الجو is a masculine topic and commonly takes a masculine adjective: الجو حلو، الجو بارد، الجو رطب. الدنيا presents the surrounding conditions more broadly. It often combines with weather nouns such as برد “cold” and شوب “heat.”
الجو منيح اليوم، خلينا نقعد برا.
el-zhaww mnīḥ el-yōm, khallīna niʾʿod barra.
The weather is nice today; let's sit outside. (masculine adjective predicate)
الدنيا برد عالصبح، خدي جاكيت.
ed-dinye bared ʿaṣ-ṣoboḥ, khode zhākēt.
It's cold in the morning; take a jacket. (weather noun; addressed to one woman)
الجو رطب كتير حد البحر.
el-zhaww raṭeb ktīr ḥadd el-baḥer.
It's very humid by the sea. (environmental topic plus adjective)
There is no omitted referential “it” in these sentences. الجو and الدنيا are ordinary nouns chosen because speakers conceptualize the weather through the air or the surrounding world. In a context where the domain is obvious, even these can be omitted from a short reply: برد كتير “very cold.”
Build from a short weather report
A compact predicate is already a complete sentence. Add degree, time, and place only as the situation requires.
الدنيا برد.
ed-dinye bared.
It's cold. (basic environmental sentence)
الدنيا برد كتير اليوم.
ed-dinye bared ktīr el-yōm.
It's very cold today. (degree and time added)
الدنيا برد كتير اليوم فوق بالجبل.
ed-dinye bared ktīr el-yōm fōʾ bil-zhabal.
It's very cold up in the mountains today. (place frame added)
The final location narrows the report; it does not become the grammatical subject. Word order can change when the location is already the frame: فوق بالجبل، الدنيا برد كتير اليوم.
Weather as an unfolding event
Rain and similar processes can be expressed by a finite verb. An event happening now uses the course baseline عم + b-imperfect. The feminine form in عم بتشتي is a conventional impersonal weather expression; do not insert a dummy pronoun before it.
عم بتشتي من الصبح، والطرقات زلقة.
ʿam bitshte min eṣ-ṣoboḥ, wiṭ-ṭoroʾāt zalʾa.
It's been raining since morning, and the roads are slippery. (ongoing weather event)
ما عم بتشتي هلق، بس الغيم تقيل.
ma ʿam bitshte hallaʾ, bass el-ghaym tʾīl.
It isn't raining now, but the clouds are heavy. (negative progressive)
مبارح شتت ساعة وبعدين طلعت الشمس.
mbēreḥ shattit sēʿa w-baʿdēn ṭilʿit esh-shames.
Yesterday it rained for an hour, and then the sun came out. (completed weather event)
Do not use عم تشتي in this course’s production baseline. Like other active progressives, it is عم + b-imperfect: عم بتشتي. See the progressive construction for its broader aspectual use.
Participles describe the visible state
Weather reports also use participles and adjectives to describe a state that is currently evident.
الشمس طالعة، بس الهوا قوي.
esh-shames ṭālʿa, bass el-hawa ʾawe.
The sun is out, but the wind is strong. (visible state plus environmental noun)
السما مغيمة وما عم بنشوف الجبل.
es-sama mghayyme w-ma ʿam binshūf el-zhabal.
The sky is cloudy, and we can't see the mountain. (feminine state agreement)
الطرقات بعدها مبلولة من الشتي.
eṭ-ṭoroʾāt baʿda mablūle min esh-shite.
The roads are still wet from the rain. (nonhuman plural grouped as feminine singular)
The adjective or participle agrees with its actual topic. English supplies the same dummy it across “it is sunny” and “it is raining”; Lebanese instead shows which environmental noun or process the speaker selected.
Existential conditions with في
Use invariant في to announce that fog, wind, rain, or another condition is present. Negate it with ما في.
في ضباب عالطريق الساحلي.
fī ḍabēb ʿaṭ-ṭarīʾ es-sēḥle.
There's fog on the coastal road. (environmental condition introduced with في)
ما في ضباب اليوم، والرؤية واضحة.
ma fī ḍabēb el-yōm, wir-roʾye wāḍḥa.
There isn't any fog today, and visibility is clear. (negative existence)
في هوا قوي عالبلكون، سكر الباب.
fī hawa ʾawe ʿal-balkōn, sakker el-bēb.
There's a strong wind on the balcony; close the door. (new condition plus instruction to one man)
Existential في does not mean locative “in” here and does not agree with the following noun. The broader introduction-versus-location contrast is covered on existential sentences.
Temperature statements
For a general sensation, use الدنيا برد/شوب or an adjective with الجو. For a measured temperature, make الحرارة the topic and give the number of degrees as its predicate.
الدنيا شوب كتير بنص النهار.
ed-dinye shōb ktīr b-noṣṣ en-nhār.
It's very hot at midday. (felt temperature)
الحرارة اليوم خمس درجات بالجبل.
el-ḥarāra l-yōm khames darazhāt bil-zhabal.
The temperature is five degrees in the mountains today. (measured temperature; no copula)
بالليل بتنزل الحرارة لعشر درجات.
bil-lēl btinzel el-ḥarāra la-ʿashar darazhāt.
At night the temperature drops to ten degrees. (change expressed with a verb)
The exact numeral–noun patterns are a separate topic. At sentence level, notice that الحرارة خمس درجات is complete without “is.”
Clock time without “it is”
The clock frame uses الساعة followed directly by the hour. A question can ask قديش الساعة؟; an answer needs no subject pronoun and no copula.
قديش الساعة هلق؟
ʾaddēsh es-sēʿa hallaʾ?
What time is it now? (ordinary clock-time question)
الساعة تلاتة ونص.
es-sēʿa tlēte w-noṣṣ.
It's three thirty. (present clock time; zero copula)
الساعة تنتين، وبعد بكير عالاجتماع.
es-sēʿa tintēn, w-baʿd bkīr ʿal-izhtimēʿ.
It's two o'clock, and it's still early for the meeting. (feminine clock form of two)
The same zero-copula logic appears in اليوم الجمعة “today is Friday” and هلق بكير “it's early now.” For quarters, halves, and exact minutes, see clock time.
Seasons and recurring environmental frames
Season phrases usually establish a frame; the following predicate or b-imperfect describes what typically holds within it.
بالشتا الدنيا برد وبتشتي كتير.
bish-shita d-dinye bared w-bitshte ktīr.
In winter it's cold and it rains a lot. (seasonal frame plus recurring weather)
بالصيف النهار طويل، والشمس بتغيب متأخر.
biṣ-ṣēf en-nhār ṭwīl, wish-shames btighīb mtʾakhkhar.
In summer the day is long, and the sun sets late. (seasonal generalization)
The b-imperfect here is habitual, not an English present tense mechanically copied after every weather noun.
Past and future frames
Add كان when the environmental predicate belongs in the past; use رح يكون when the forecast genuinely presents a future state.
مبارح كان الجو دافي، بس بالليل برد.
mbēreḥ kēn el-zhaww dēfe, bass bil-lēl barad.
Yesterday the weather was warm, but it got cold at night. (past state then change)
بكرا رح يكون الجو صافي عالصبح.
bokra raḥ ykūn el-zhaww ṣāfe ʿaṣ-ṣoboḥ.
Tomorrow the weather will be clear in the morning. (forecast future)
Present الجو صافي needs no بيكون. Past and future forms appear because time or modality licenses them, not because Lebanese secretly requires a copula.
Register and regional range
الجو، الدنيا برد/شوب، عم بتشتي are ordinary conversational Lebanese (informal/neutral). الطقس is also understood and common in forecasts, news, and careful discussion (neutral/careful). Formal phrases such as تهطل الأمطار or fully case-marked clock expressions belong to MSA (formal). Syrian, Palestinian, and Jordanian speakers share much of this inventory but differ in favored weather verbs, vowels, and regional consonant realizations; this page keeps the Beirut production baseline rather than making a pan-Levantine blend.
Situational dialogue: deciding whether to go out
شو الجو برا؟ بعدها عم بتشتي؟
shū l-zhaww barra? baʿda ʿam bitshte?
Nour: What's the weather like outside? Is it still raining? (feminine environmental resumption)
لا، وقفت الشتي، بس بعد في هوا قوي.
la, wiʾfit esh-shite, bass baʿd fī hawa ʾawe.
Rami: No, the rain stopped, but there's still a strong wind. (completed event plus existential condition)
قديش الساعة؟ فينا نمشي قبل ما تعتم.
ʾaddēsh es-sēʿa? fīna nimshe ʾabel ma tʿattem.
Nour: What time is it? We can walk before it gets dark. (impersonal environmental verb)
الساعة خمسة إلا ربع؛ يلا منفل هلق.
es-sēʿa khamse illa robʿ; yalla mnfill hallaʾ.
Rami: It's quarter to five; come on, let's leave now. (clock predicate plus decision)
Common Mistakes
Adding a dummy pronoun
❌ هو برد اليوم.
Incorrect for impersonal ‘it is cold’ — هو refers to a masculine entity.
✅ الدنيا برد اليوم بس الجو صافي.
ed-dinye bared el-yōm bass el-zhaww ṣāfe.
It's cold today, but the weather is clear.
Inserting a neutral present copula
❌ الجو بيكون منيح هلق.
Wrong for the intended simple current report — بيكون adds a habitual, inferential, or contextual reading.
✅ الجو منيح هلق والشمس طالعة.
el-zhaww mnīḥ hallaʾ wish-shames ṭālʿa.
The weather is nice now, and the sun is out.
Dropping the b-marker in the active progressive
❌ عم تشتي من الصبح.
Incorrect in the course production baseline — an active progressive uses عم + b-imperfect.
✅ عم بتشتي من الصبح بلا توقف.
ʿam bitshte min eṣ-ṣoboḥ bla tawaʾʾof.
It's been raining nonstop since morning.
Importing formal clock morphology
❌ الساعة الثالثة والنصف.
Register mismatch — this is formal MSA wording, not ordinary Beirut clock speech.
✅ الساعة تلاتة ونص، والموعد عالأربعة.
es-sēʿa tlēte w-noṣṣ, wil-mawʿed ʿal-arbaʿa.
It's three thirty, and the appointment is at four.
Key Takeaways
Lebanese weather and time expressions do not need English dummy it. Use an environmental topic plus a predicate (الجو منيح، الدنيا برد), a progressive or perfect weather verb (عم بتشتي، شتت), existential في/ما في for a present condition, and الساعة + clock expression for the time. Add كان or رح يكون only when a genuine past or future frame requires it.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Basic Nominal SentencesA1 — Build present Lebanese sentences with noun, pronoun, adjective, and prepositional predicates without an English-style copula.
- Existential في SentencesA1 — Use invariant في and ما في to introduce people, things, and availability without an English-style dummy subject.
- Clock Time in Lebanese ArabicA1 — Ask and tell the time in Lebanese Arabic using colloquial hour forms, fractions, exact minutes, and day-part labels.
- عم plus Imperfect for Ongoing EventsA1 — Build the Beirut progressive with عم plus b-imperfect for current and extended ongoing events.
- مش with Nominal, Adjectival, and Participial PredicatesA1 — Use مش to negate present identities, properties, locations, and participial states in urban Lebanese Arabic.
- Negating عم Progressive ClausesA2 — Use ما before the Lebanese عم progressive to deny an activity unfolding now or around a reference time.