LEARN + KOREAN / Note 15 TOPIK I
How's the Weather? (날씨가 어때요?)
a
Describing the sky uses ordinary descriptive verbs, the same -아요/-어요 shape you already know. Rain and snow get their own construction: 비가 와요, 눈이 와요, literally “rain comes,” “snow comes,” built on 오다, the same verb you’d use for a person arriving.
Describing the Sky
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
makda | to be clear, sunny |
heurida | to be cloudy |
deopda | to be hot |
chupda | to be cold |
siwonhada | to be cool, refreshing |
seupada | to be humid |
In Real Life
덥다 and 춥다 are ㅂ-irregular, the same family as 어렵다 (difficult) from 을/를 해요. Almost every adjective describing intensity in this shape follows the pattern: swap the ㅂ for 우 before a vowel ending. 쉽다 (easy) becomes 쉬워요, 맵다 (spicy) becomes 매워요.
When It Rains
Two full sentences chain together with -고, attached directly to the stem with no change: verb/adjective + 고 just means “and,” letting you set up a contrast like summer against winter in one breath.
In Real Life
날씨 (weather) small talk is just as universal in Korean as it is in English. Opening with 오늘 날씨가 어때요? or commenting on the heat with a stranger in an elevator is completely normal, low-stakes conversation, not a sign anyone’s genuinely curious about meteorology.
Vocabulary
| Korean | English |
|---|---|
baram | wind |
nun | snow |
bi | rain |
bom | spring |
yeoreum | summer |
gaeul | autumn |
gyeoul | winter |
danpung | autumn leaves |
misemeonji | fine dust, air pollution |
jangma | monsoon season |
sonagi | sudden rain shower |
mujigae | rainbow |
gion | temperature |
taepung | typhoon |