Weather Expressions | Serbian Grammar

Serbian weather talk uses several grammatical structures, not one equivalent of English it is. Хладно је is genuinely impersonal, грми has no nominative subject, but пада киша contains the nominative subject киша. Recognizing the structure explains agreement in the past, the future, temperatures, and forecasts.

Asking about the weather

The everyday question is Какво је време? “What is the weather like?” Predicate какво is neuter because време is neuter.

Какво је време у Нишу? Овде је цео дан облачно.

What's the weather like in Niš? It's been cloudy here all day.

Useful general answers use neuter forms or adverbs with singular је:

Expression	Meaning
Сунчано је.	It is sunny.
Облачно је.	It is cloudy.
Ветровито је.	It is windy.
Топло је.	It is warm.
Хладно је.	It is cold.
Спарно је.	It is muggy.

Јутрос је било магловито, али је сада сунчано и топло.

It was foggy this morning, but now it is sunny and warm.

Past impersonal conditions use neuter било, and future conditions use биће:

На обали ће сутра бити ветровито, нарочито после подне.

It will be windy on the coast tomorrow, especially in the afternoon.

The locative phrase на обали is a setting, not a subject, so it does not control agreement. Serbian does not add оно as a dummy version of English it.

This is the same subjectless architecture used for sensations and environmental states more broadly; see impersonal and subjectless sentences.

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If no nominative noun names the weather phenomenon, use the impersonal default: present third-person singular and past neuter singular, as in хладно је — било је хладно.

Subjectless weather verbs

Several verbs describe an environmental event without an overt nominative subject.

Целе ноћи је грмело и севало изнад града.

There was thunder and lightning over the city all night.

Present грми, сева is third-person singular; past грмело је, севало је is neuter singular. Other useful verbs include смркавати се/смркнути се “get dark,” разведравати се/разведрити се “clear up,” захладнети “turn cold,” and отоплити “turn warmer.”

Предвече се нагло наоблачило, а затим је захладнело.

Toward evening it suddenly clouded over, and then it turned colder.

In the affirmative third-person singular perfect, reflexive се excludes auxiliary је from its cluster: се наоблачило, not се је наоблачило. Nonreflexive захладнело је keeps the auxiliary.

Aspect changes the viewpoint:

Док се постепено разведравало, ветар је и даље дувао са севера.

While it was gradually clearing, the wind was still blowing from the north.

Imperfective разведравало се presents the process. Perfective разведрило се presents the achieved change: “it cleared up.”

Rain, snow, and wind often have subjects

English says it is raining, but standard Serbian very commonly says пада киша. Here киша is nominative and functions as the subject.

Од поднева пада јака киша, па су улице скоро празне.

Heavy rain has been falling since noon, so the streets are almost empty.

На вишим планинама већ пада густ снег.

Thick snow is already falling on the higher mountains.

The verb is singular because киша and снег are singular. Similarly, дува ветар contains nominative ветар:

Дува јак западни ветар и таласи су све већи.

A strong westerly wind is blowing, and the waves are getting higher.

Compare the genuinely impersonal alternative ветровито је. Both describe wind, but only ветар can control ordinary adjective and verb agreement.

Forecasts also use existential or passive-like packaging:

Увече ће бити кише, а на западу се очекују локални пљускови.

There will be some rain in the evening, and local showers are expected in the west. (weather forecast)

After existential биће, кише is genitive. In очекују се локални пљускови, nominative plural пљускови controls plural очекују; this is a se-passive, not a singular impersonal.

The agreement test is explained fully on se-passive and impersonal constructions.

Air temperature and how a person feels

The outside condition and the speaker's sensation are different constructions.

Напољу је дванаест степени, али је мени хладно без јакне.

It is twelve degrees outside, but I feel cold without a jacket.

Напољу је дванаест степени states the measured condition. Мени је хладно adds a dative experiencer, full мени here because the speaker contrasts personal sensation with the number.

Temperature nouns follow numeral government:

Number	Form
1°	један степен
2°–4°	два/три/четири степена
5° and above	пет/десет/двадесет степени

Јутарња температура биће три степена испод нуле.

The morning temperature will be three degrees below zero.

Conversational биће минус три is also common when the unit is obvious. Нула степени takes genitive plural степени after zero in ordinary temperature reporting.

To ask for the exact measurement, say Колика је температура? Feminine колика agrees with температура. Колико је степени? asks the same information through a quantity frame.

Forecast time and probability

Future weather can be expressed with биће + condition, a future verb, or an impersonal assessment.

Сутра ће бити претежно сунчано, али ће касно увече падати киша.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, but rain will fall late in the evening.

Могуће је да ће током ноћи пасти снег.

It is possible that snow will fall during the night.

Imperfective падати presents expected weather over an interval; perfective пасти presents the occurrence of snowfall as a bounded event. In forecasts, местимично, повремено, претежно, and уз могућност are (formal/weather-report) modifiers rather than obligatory everyday vocabulary.

Ујутру облачно, местимично са слабом кишом; после подне постепено разведравање.

Cloudy in the morning, with light rain in places; gradual clearing in the afternoon. (formal forecast headline style)

This verbless compressed style belongs to forecasts and headlines. In conversation, use finite clauses: Ујутру ће бити облачно...

Weather during an activity

Prepositions package weather as a condition or setting. По + locative means moving or functioning in the conditions; за време + genitive identifies the interval.

Не волим да возим по густој магли, нарочито ноћу.

I don't like driving in dense fog, especially at night.

За време олује нестало је струје у неколико села.

During the storm, the power went out in several villages.

Do not copy English in the rain mechanically with у. Depending on meaning, Serbian uses по киши for activity exposed to rain, на киши for being out in the rain, or a finite clause such as док пада киша.

Ekavian and Ijekavian forms

This guide uses Ekavian време, снег, лепо време as its productive baseline. Ijekavian Serbian has вријеме, снијег, лијепо вријеме. These are standard reflexes in Ijekavian Serbian, not misspellings or a different weather grammar. Keep one reflex consistently within an example. In Serbian Latin, write vreme/sneg or Ijekavian vrijeme/snijeg with the same grammatical patterns.

Situational dialogue

— Какво ће време бити за викенд? — У суботу ће бити топло, око двадесет два степена, али се увече очекују пљускови. — А у недељу? — Хладније и ветровито. Понеси јакну ако идеш у планину. — Хвала, онда ћемо кренути рано у суботу.

— What will the weather be like this weekend? — Saturday will be warm, around twenty-two degrees, but showers are expected in the evening. — And Sunday? — Colder and windy. Take a jacket if you're going into the mountains. — Thanks; then we'll leave early on Saturday.

The forecast uses impersonal биће, quantity двадесет два степена, and plural se-passive очекују се пљускови. The direct advice понеси fits an informal singular conversation.

Practice

Task 1: Find the subject

Compare грми, пада киша, дувају јаки ветрови, and облачно је. Identify which clauses have a nominative subject and predict their past agreement.

Task 2: Give a two-day forecast

Describe today's condition, yesterday's condition with neuter било, and tomorrow's forecast with биће. Add one temperature above zero and one below zero with the correct form of степен.

Common Mistakes

❌ Оно је хладно и грми напољу.

Incorrect weather structure—Serbian does not use оно as an English-style dummy ‘it’; хладно је and грми coordinate without a dummy subject.

✅ Напољу је хладно и грми.

It is cold and thundering outside.

❌ Синоћ је било јака киша.

Incorrect structure—if киша is the nominative subject, use the verb падати and feminine agreement where relevant, not impersonal било with an unchanged noun phrase.

✅ Синоћ је падала јака киша.

Heavy rain was falling last night.

❌ Ја сам хладно на ветру.

Incorrect experiencer structure—a person who feels cold is dative, while the predicate remains impersonal.

✅ Хладно ми је на ветру.

I feel cold in the wind.

❌ Данас је двадесет два степени.

Incorrect numeral government—двадесет два requires the paucal form степена.

✅ Данас су двадесет два степена.

It is twenty-two degrees today.

Key Takeaways

Хладно је and грми are subjectless; Serbian does not add dummy оно.
Пада киша/снег and дува ветар contain nominative subjects and follow ordinary agreement.
Past impersonal weather uses neuter singular: било је облачно, грмело је, разведрило се.
The outside condition is impersonal, while a person who feels cold or hot appears in the dative.
Temperatures follow numeral government, and formal forecasts may use se-passive, existential, or compressed headline structures.

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