Questions & Answers about ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy?
I thought tiempo meant "time". Why is it translated as "weather" here?
Why does this sentence use hace (makes/does) instead of a verb for "is"?
In English, we say the weather "is" good or bad. In Spanish, weather is often treated as something the environment "makes" or "does". So instead of asking what the weather "is", you are literally asking "What weather does it make today?"
Could I just translate word-for-word and say ¿Cómo es el tiempo?
No, that would sound very unnatural to a Spanish speaker. Even though it matches the English "What is the weather like?", Spanish always uses the set phrase ¿Qué tiempo hace? to ask about the weather.
Why is there an upside-down question mark (¿) at the beginning of the sentence?
In Spanish, all questions must start with an inverted question mark (¿) and end with a standard one (?). This is a helpful visual cue that tells you a question is starting, so you know immediately to read it as a question!