Time and Weather Expressions

Catalan packages time and weather in a handful of high-frequency frames: Quina hora és?, És la una, Són les quatre, Fa fred, Plou, and Hi ha boira. These expressions are not produced by translating English “it is,” “it makes,” or “there is” word for word. Their verbs, articles, and prepositions form conventional combinations.

Most of these clauses are impersonal: there is no referential Catalan word corresponding to English dummy it. The verb stands without an expressed subject, and the chosen frame depends on whether you are naming a clock time, describing a sensation, reporting precipitation, or presenting something in the atmosphere.

Pattern grid

Three flexible frames deserve to be learned whole:

1. Són les + hour: són les dues / són les set / són les onze.
2. Fa + weather noun: fa fred / fa calor / fa vent.
3. Hi ha + atmospheric noun: hi ha boira / hi ha núvols / hi ha una tempesta.

Asking and telling the time

The standard question is Quina hora és? The adjective quina agrees with feminine hora. The answer is singular only for one o'clock: És la una. Every other hour is plural: Són les dues, Són les tres, and so on. The article remains part of the clock-time frame.

To state when an event occurs, add a: a la una but a les dues. Asking the scheduled time uses A quina hora...?

That contrast is grammatical: Quina hora és? asks for the current clock reading, while A quina hora...? asks for the time assigned to an event.

Minutes and the quarter system

Transparent digital-style expressions such as les tres i deu and les cinc i mitja are broadly understood across varieties. In much of Central Catalan, a traditional quarter system counts completed quarters toward the next hour:

The literal image “two quarters of eight” means that two quarters have elapsed on the way to eight. This is not transparent to English speakers, so it must be practiced as its own system. Valencian and many other speakers more often use additive forms such as les set i mitja (regional: Valencian and other areas). Regional preference is not a difference in mathematical time.

Weather with fa

Catalan uses impersonal fer for temperature and several broad conditions. The literal word fer means “do/make,” but fa fred is idiomatically “it is cold,” not “it makes cold.” The noun does not take an article in the basic weather frame.

With an intensifier, Catalan commonly uses molt de before these weather nouns: molt de fred, molt de vent, molta calor. The word molt agrees with the noun when it behaves as a determiner: molta calor.

The nonidiomatic but understandable alternative La temperatura és baixa means “The temperature is low.” It belongs to explicit or technical description, not an ordinary answer to Quin temps fa?

Weather verbs and hi ha

Precipitation has its own impersonal verbs: plou “it is raining” and neva “it is snowing.” No subject pronoun is added.

For atmospheric things presented as present in a place, use hi ha: hi ha boira, hi ha núvols, hi ha tempesta. The clitic-like element hi is frozen into the existential construction; do not remove or change it.

These choices are semantically organized. Fa vent treats wind as a general condition; hi ha una tempesta presents a storm as an atmospheric event. The difference is not an arbitrary replacement of English it.

Dates and calendar time

Ask Quin dia és avui? and answer Avui és 8 de juny. Days and months are normally lowercase: dilluns, setembre. The month follows de, which becomes d' before a vowel: d'abril, d'agost, d'octubre.

When locating an event on a date, use the article: La reunió és el 14 d'abril. For a recurring weekday, plural article marks repetition: els dilluns “on Mondays.”

Catalan normally orders a numeric date day-month-year: 03/10/2026 means 3 October 2026, not March 10. See dates and time for the full numeral system.

A weather-and-time mini-dialogue

The dialogue moves through four stored frames: són tres quarts de sis, plou, fa vent, and hi ha boira. Trying to force one general equivalent of English it is into all four would produce non-Catalan combinations.

Regional and register notes

The quarter system is a strong Central Catalan pattern, but not a test of correctness across the language. Valencian commonly uses forms such as les cinc i quart, and Balearic usage has its own preferences. Weather frames fa fred, plou, and hi ha boira are broadly shared, although vocabulary and pronunciation vary.

In forecasts (formal/media), expect compact nominal style—cel cobert, pluges disperses, temperatures en descens—alongside finite clauses. Everyday A1 conversation normally uses the full frames taught here.

An interjection such as Buf! can introduce an informal reaction—Buf! Quin fred!—but it is not a neutral weather frame for a forecast or a formal report. In those settings, use fa fred, baixaran les temperatures, or the relevant forecast phrase without the interjection.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Ask Quina hora és?; answer És la una but Són les dues/les tres/....
• Use a la una / a les dues for the scheduled time of an event.
• Central dos quarts de vuit means 7:30; other regions often prefer additive clock forms.
• Use fa for broad conditions, weather verbs for precipitation, and hi ha for atmospheric presence.
• Catalan weather clauses do not need an English-style dummy pronoun meaning “it.”
• Write days and months in lowercase and order dates day-month-year.