Breakdown of La météo n'a pas été fiable et le ciel n'est pas dégagé.
être
to be
et
and
avoir
to have
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
la météo
the weather forecast / the weather
le ciel
the sky
fiable
reliable
dégagé
clear (unobstructed)
Questions & Answers about La météo n'a pas été fiable et le ciel n'est pas dégagé.
Why does la météo mean "weather forecast" here instead of just "weather"?
La météo is short for la météorologie. In everyday French, it is used to talk about both the weather itself and the weather report. Because the sentence mentions it being "reliable" (fiable), it makes logical sense that it refers to the forecast here. To refer strictly to the weather outside, you can also use le temps.
Why use the passé composé (n'a pas été) instead of the imparfait (n'était pas) for "was not"?
Using the passé composé here treats the reliability of the forecast as a completed, factual event that we are evaluating right now. If you used the imparfait (n'était pas), it would sound more like a background description of an ongoing past state or a general habit. Here, you are pointing out a specific recent failure of the forecast that explains the current cloudy sky.
Does dégagé always mean "clear"?
Why doesn't fiable have an extra "e" at the end since la météo is feminine?
Adjectives that already end in a silent -e in their masculine form do not take an extra -e in the feminine. Since the default masculine form is fiable, the feminine form stays exactly the same.
Learn La météo n'a pas été fiable et le ciel n'est pas dégagé and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free