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Weather Expressions with il fait and il y a

FoundationHigherAQA

Revise Weather Expressions with il fait and il y a for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). Weather is described with il fait beau, il fait froid, il neige and il y a du soleil.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

Foundation

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Higher

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Topic overview

French uses faire for most weather expressions, where English uses to be — and a few expressions use il y a instead.

Il fait beau means the weather is fine. Il fait mauvais means it is bad weather. Il fait chaud, il fait froid, il fait du soleil, il fait du vent all follow the same pattern.

A few use other verbs. Il y a du brouillard means it is foggy, il y a des nuages means it is cloudy. Il pleut means it is raining and il neige means it is snowing, both single verbs. Using être — il est chaud — means something quite different, referring to an object rather than the weather.

Revision notes

Faire expressions

Il fait beau, il fait mauvais, il fait chaud, il fait froid.

Il fait du soleil, il fait du vent. Faire covers most general weather descriptions, and the structure is always il fait plus the description.

Il y a expressions

Il y a du brouillard — it is foggy. Il y a des nuages — it is cloudy.

Il y a de l'orage — it is stormy. These use il y a because they describe something present rather than a general condition.

Single verbs

Il pleut — it is raining. Il neige — it is snowing.

These are complete verbs in themselves, needing no faire. In the past they become il pleuvait and il neigeait, or il a plu and il a neigé.

Key points

  • French uses faire for most weather.
  • Il fait beau means the weather is fine.
  • Il fait froid means it is cold.
  • Il y a du brouillard means it is foggy.
  • Il pleut means it is raining.
  • Il est chaud does not describe weather.

Worked examples

Example 1

Translate: it is cold. [2 marks]

Working

Il fait froiduse faire for the weather expression
French uses faire where English uses to be for weatherexplain the verb choice

Example 2

Translate: it is foggy. [2 marks]

Working

Il y a du brouillarduse il y a with the partitive
This expression uses il y a rather than faireexplain the exception

Example 3

Explain why il est chaud does not mean it is hot weather. [2 marks]

Working

Il est chaud refers to an object being hot, not the weatherstate the meaning
The weather expression is il fait chaud, using fairegive the correct form

Common mistakes

  • Using être for weather.

    Il fait chaud, not il est chaud.

  • Using faire with brouillard.

    It takes il y a.

  • Adding faire to il pleut.

    It is a complete verb on its own.

  • Omitting the partitive in il y a expressions.

    Il y a du brouillard needs du.

Exam tips

  • Use faire for general weather conditions.
  • Use il y a for fog, cloud and storms.
  • Remember il pleut and il neige stand alone.
  • Never use être for the weather.

Key terms

Il fait
The standard weather structure using faire.
Il y a
Used for fog, cloud and storms.
Il pleut
A complete verb meaning it is raining.
Impersonal expression
A phrase with il as an empty subject.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.