Weather in Polish

To ask about the weather in Polish, say "Jaka jest pogoda?" To describe it, use jest with an -o word: Jest zimno (it's cold), Jest ciepło (it's warm). Rain and snow both "fall": pada deszcz, pada śnieg. For temperatures, say Jest dwadzieścia stopni (it's 20 degrees).

Asking about the weather

The word for weather is pogoda (po-GO-dah). The standard question is Jaka jest pogoda? (What is the weather like?). In speech people often drop the verb and just say Jaka dziś pogoda? For tomorrow, use the future: Jaka będzie jutro pogoda?

Na dworze means "outside". You will also hear na zewnątrz, which is neutral, and na polu, which is what people say in Kraków and the south. All three are correct.

Weather words: sun, rain, snow and wind

Two of these have a special meaning in Polish weather talk. Mróz is not just frost on the window. It means any temperature below zero, so duży mróz is a hard freeze. Upał is the opposite: real heat, usually 30 degrees and more.

Describing the weather: jest zimno, jest słonecznie

This is the most important pattern on the page. English says "it is cold" with an adjective. Polish uses jest plus an adverb form ending in -o or -ie, with no word for "it": Jest zimno, Jest słonecznie. You can even drop jest: Zimno dziś.

When the word describes a noun, use the adjective instead: słoneczny dzień (a sunny day), deszczowy weekend (a rainy weekend), mroźna zima (a frosty winter), pochmurne niebo (a cloudy sky).

It's raining, it's snowing: pada deszcz, pada śnieg

Polish weather verbs are simple. Rain and snow both "fall": pada deszcz (it's raining), pada śnieg (it's snowing). If it is clear which one you mean, pada alone is enough. Wind "blows" (wieje) and the sun "shines" (świeci).

For yesterday and tomorrow, change only the verb. The past of jest is było and the future is będzie. For rain, the past is padało and the future is będzie padać.

• Wczoraj cały dzień padało.
  It rained all day yesterday.
• Było bardzo zimno i wiał silny wiatr.
  It was very cold and a strong wind was blowing.
• Jutro będzie słonecznie i ciepło.
  Tomorrow it will be sunny and warm.
• W nocy ma padać śnieg.
  It's supposed to snow tonight.
• Weź parasol, bo zaraz będzie lało.
  Take an umbrella, it's going to pour any minute.

The little word ma in ma padać is very common in weather talk. It means "is supposed to", the way people repeat a forecast: Ma być ciepło (It's supposed to be warm).

Temperatures in Polish: stopnie and stopni

Poland uses Celsius. The word for degree is stopień, and its form changes with the number in front of it. This trips up every learner, but the rule is short:

• 1: jeden stopień
• 2, 3, 4 (and 22, 23, 24, 32 and so on): stopnie
• all other numbers (0, 5 to 21, 25 to 31 and so on): stopni

The teens (12, 13, 14) take stopni, not stopnie, because they do not end in the word dwa, trzy or cztery.

To say the temperature, use jest with stopni: Jest dwadzieścia stopni (It's 20 degrees). In the past it becomes było: Było trzydzieści stopni. With 2, 3 and 4, grammar books want the plural verb są (Są trzy stopnie), but in everyday speech many people simply say jest. Below zero, just put minus in front: Jest minus pięć. Older people and radio forecasts also say pięć stopni mrozu (five degrees of frost) for −5.

• Ile jest stopni na dworze?
  How many degrees is it outside?
• Jest dwadzieścia stopni w cieniu.
  It's twenty degrees in the shade.
• W nocy temperatura spadnie poniżej zera.
  At night the temperature will drop below zero.
• Rano było minus osiem.
  This morning it was minus eight.

Useful extras: temperatura (temperature), powyżej zera (above zero), poniżej zera (below zero), w cieniu (in the shade), w słońcu (in the sun), stopni Celsjusza (degrees Celsius).

Weather forecast words

A weather forecast is prognoza pogody. Forecasts on TV, radio and weather apps use a slightly formal vocabulary. These are the words you will see most often.

A typical line from a forecast sounds like this:

• Jutro zachmurzenie duże, miejscami przelotne opady deszczu.
  Tomorrow cloudy, with showers in places.
• Temperatura maksymalna od 18 do 22 stopni.
  Highs from 18 to 22 degrees.
• Wiatr umiarkowany, w porywach do 60 km/h.
  Moderate wind, gusting up to 60 km/h.

Small talk about the weather

Poles talk about the weather as much as anyone, and complaining about it is a national hobby. The word ale at the start of a sentence works like "what a" or "so": Ale zimno! means "It's so cold!"

• Ale dziś gorąco!
  It's so hot today!
• Ładna dziś pogoda, prawda?
  Nice weather today, isn't it?
• Co za pogoda!
  What weather!
• Podobno w weekend ma się ochłodzić.
  Apparently it's supposed to get colder at the weekend.
• Zmarzłem. / Zmarzłam.
  I'm frozen. (said by a man / a woman)
• Ubierz się ciepło, na dworze jest mróz.
  Dress warmly, it's freezing outside.
• Leje jak z cebra.
  It's raining cats and dogs.
• Pogoda jest pod psem.
  The weather is lousy.

Two seasonal expressions are worth knowing. Babie lato is a warm, sunny spell in early autumn, like an Indian summer. Złota polska jesień (golden Polish autumn) is the much-loved season of bright leaves and mild days. And when April keeps switching between sun, rain and even snow, people quote the old saying Kwiecień plecień, bo przeplata trochę zimy, trochę lata (April weaves together a bit of winter and a bit of summer).