Eguraldia — the weather and the forecast

In a country where it can be sunny, rain, and be sunny again in the same morning, talking about the weather is a national sport. And it comes with a double prize: the eguraldia vocabulary is THE perfect ground to practice your newly learned future tense, because the forecast is always told in geroaldia.

Basic vocabulary

English	Basque
The weather	eguraldia
The sun	eguzkia
The rain	euria
The snow	elurra
The wind	haizea
The fog	lainoa
The clouds	hodeiak
The downpour	zaparrada
The temperature	tenperatura
The degrees	graduak
The forecast	iragarpena

The three key constructions

Time	Construction	Example
Right now	phenomenon + ari du	Euria ari du. — It’s raining.
In general / today	phenomenon + egiten du	Hotz handia egiten du. — It’s very cold.
Forecast (future)	phenomenon + egingo du	Bihar euria egingo du. — It will rain tomorrow.

Other phrases with their own verb:

Eguzkia atera da / aterako da. — The sun has come out / will come out.

Haizea dabil. — It’s windy (the wind “walks”).

Hodeitsu / eguzkitsu dago. — It’s cloudy / sunny.

Note: in Basque, the weather “makes” things with egin and the auxiliary du (with no visible subject): euria egingo du, bero handia egiten du. It’s just like the Spanish «hace calor» — except that rain is also “made”.

How to ask

Zer eguraldi egiten du zure herrian? — What’s the weather like in your town?

Zer dio iragarpenak biharko? — What does the forecast say for tomorrow?

Zenbat gradu daude kanpoan? — How many degrees is it outside?

A real forecast (like on TV)

«Gaur, goizean lainoa izango dugu kostaldean, baina eguerdirako eguzkia aterako da. Arratsaldean hodeiak iritsiko dira mendebaldetik eta gauean euria egingo du, batez ere Bizkaian. Tenperaturak behera egingo du: 22 gradutik 16ra. Bihar, haizea ibiliko da eta zaparradak izango ditugu han-hemenka.»

(Fog in the morning on the coast, sun at noon, clouds from the west, rain at night, a drop in temperature, wind tomorrow and scattered showers — the classic Atlantic menu. 😄)

Dialogue: the plan depends on the sky

— Bihar mendira joango gara?

— Ez dakit… zer dio iragarpenak?

— Goizean eguzkitsu, baina arratsaldean euria egingo du.

— Orduan goiz aterako gara. Zaparrada harrapatzen bagaitu, hurrengoan ez naiz zurekin inora joango! 😄