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Sentences
Summer Weather
Fall Weather
Winter Weather
Spring Weather
Storms
General
Introduction
The easiest fall-back conversation topic when you have nothing to talk about! Everybody loves talking about the weather, especially when it is bad!
Below is a list of vocabulary you may find useful when talking about the weather in Korean.
Vocabulary
Nouns
날씨 = weather
기온 = temperature
공기 = air
비 = rain
눈 = snow
바람 = wind
이슬비 = drizzle
눈바람 = blizzard
폭염 = heat wave
장마 = rainy season
가뭄 = drought
기후변화 = climate change
번개 = lightning
천둥 = thunder
소나기 = shower
태풍 = typhoon
단풍 = changing of the color of leaves in autumn
낙엽 = fallen leavings in autumn
황사 = yellow dust that comes in the spring in Korea
하늘 = sky
구름 = clouds
해 = sun
일교차 = the difference in temperature within a day
산불 = forest fire
자외선 = UV rays
자외선 차단제 = sun screen
내복 = long johns/long underwear
우산 = umbrella
비옷 = rain jacket
겉옷 = outer clothes (like a jacket)
바다 = ocean
해변 = beach
기후 = climate
에어컨 = air conditioner
난방 = heating
냉방 = cooling/air conditioning
You will see these words written on signs indicating that the air conditioner or heater is on, and because of that, the owner of the building (or whatever) wants you to close the door after you come in or leave. For example, you might see “냉방중.” Another place you will see these is written on a control console for the central heating/cooling in a building. Here, you would have the option of choosing heat “난방” or cooling “냉방”
Verbs/Passive verbs
치다 = for lightning/thunder to strike
쌓이다 = to be piled up
오다 = for rain/snow to come
내리다 = for rain/snow to fall down
피다 = for a flower to bloom
지다 = for the sun to set
뜨다 = for the sun to rise
불다 = for wind to blow
틀다 = to turn on (an air conditioner, heater)
끄다 = to turn off
Adjectives
덥다 = hot
춥다 = cold
건조하다 = dry
따뜻하다 = warm
습하다 = humid
맑다 = clear
쌀쌀하다 = chilly
서늘하다 = cool
Seasons:
여름 = summer
겨울 = winter
가을 = fall
봄 = spring
Other:
영하 = below zero
영상 = above zero
For help memorizing these words, try using our Memrise tool.
Now let’s look at some specific sentences that you may find useful when talking about the weather:
Summer Weather
비가 왔어요 = It’s raining/It rained
비가 와요 = It’s raining
날씨가 너무 더워요 = The weather is too hot
날씨가 너무 더워서 못 나가요 = It’s so hot, so I can’t go outside
저는 바다에서 수영하고 싶어요 = I want to go swimming in the ocean
저는 해변에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go to the beach
골프를 치고 있었는데 갑자기 소나기가 왔어요 = I was playing golf, and then suddenly it started to shower
내일 기온이 30도까지 올라갈 거에요 = The temperature tomorrow is going to go up to 30 degrees
다음 주까지 폭염이 예상됩니다 = A heat wave is expected (to last) until next week
이 방은 냉방 중이다 = This room is being air conditioned
한국에서는 장마가 7월에 있어요 = There is a rainy season in Korea in July
장마가 다음 주부터 시작될 거에요 = The rainy season will start from next week
날씨가 좋아서 밖에 가고 싶어요 = I want to go outside because the weather is nice
더워서 에어컨을 틀고 싶어요 = I want to turn the air conditioner on because it is hot
더운 날씨가 괜찮은데 습한 날씨가 싫어요 = Hot weather is okay, but I don’t like humid weather
여름에는 해가 일찍 떠요 = In the summer, the sun rises early
여름에는 해가 늦게 져요 = In the summer, the sun sets late
날씨가 더워서 물을 많이 마셔야 해요 = You must drink lots of water because it is hot
피부를 보호하기 위해 여름에는 자외선 차단제를 발라 야 돼요 = In order to protect your skin, you need to apply sun screen in the summer
Fall Weather
단풍이 예뻐요 = The (changing of the color of) leaves is pretty
낙엽 때문에 산길이 미끄러워요 = The (mountain) path is slippery because of the fallen leaves
날씨가 서늘해요 = the weather is cool
날씨가 쌀쌀해요 = the weather is chilly
하늘이 매우 맑아요 = The sky is very clear
가을에는 낙엽이 많이 떨어져요 = In the fall, a lot of leaves fall to the ground
가을에는 곡식을 수확해요 = Grains are harvested in the fall
다음 주에 태풍이 올 거에요 = There will be a typhoon next week
가을에는 일교차가 크기 때문에 겉옷을 항상 준비해야 해요 = You should always prepare outer clothes (like a jacket) in the fall because the temperature can be very different from morning to night
가을에는 날씨가 매우 건조해서 산불이 많이 나요 = Forest fires happen a lot in fall because the weather is very dry
.
Winter Weather
날씨가 추워요 = The weather is cold
눈이 왔어요 = It’s snowing/It snowed
눈이 와요 = It’s snowing
눈이 많이 싸였어요 = A lot of snow piled up
얼음 때문에 길이 미끄러워요 = The road is slippery because of the ice
눈을 치워야 돼요 = We have to clear the snow
이방은 난방 중이다 = This room is being heated
소금을 뿌려야 돼요 = We have to throw salt on the ground
저는 추운 날씨를 좋아해요 = I like cold weather
저는 걷다가 길이 미끄러워서 넘어졌어요 = I was walking and then fell because the road was slippery
눈이 쌓이고 있어요 = The snow is piling up
The word “쌓이다” is used when it snows but the snow doesn’t go away, and it continues to pile up more and more
겨울에 한국 사람들이 문을 왜 안 닫는지 이해가 안 돼요 = I don’t understand why Korean people don’t close the door in the winter
Spring Weather
꽃이 피고 있어요 = The flowers are blooming
눈이 다 녹았어요 = The snow is all melted
날씨가 따듯해지고 있어요 = The weather is getting warmer
한국에는 황사가 중국에서 봄마다 와요 = Yellow dust comes to Korea ever spring from China
봄에는 꽃가루 알레르기를 조심해 야 해요 = You need to be careful about pollen allergies in the spring
황사를 피하기 위해 마스크를 써야 해요 = You should put on a mask in the spring to avoid the yellow dust
오늘 황사가 심해서 밖에 나가면 안 돼요 = You shouldn’t go outside today because the yellow dust is bad
Storms
저는 우산을 안 가져왔어요 = I didn’t bring an umbrella
우산을 씌워 주세요 = Put the umbrella over me
저는 천둥 치는 소리를 들었어요 = I heard (the sound of) thunder
비옷을 사야겠어요 = I’ll have to buy a rain jacket
General
기후변화 때문에 바다 해수면이 높아지고 있어요 = The sea level is rising because of climate change
캐나다에서는 공기가 건조해요 = The air in Canada is dry
바람이 심하게 불어요 = The wind is blowing hard
날씨가 좀 추워졌어요 = The weather got a little bit cold
날씨는 주말에 추워졌어 = The weather got cold over the weekend
구름이 그쳤어요 = The clouds cleared up
가뭄 때문에 물을 아껴 써야 돼요 = We need to conserve water because of the drought
Weather in Korea
The following is my experience of Korean weather from my time in Seoul. Of course, the weather will be different depending on where you go.
Korea experiences four seasons: summer, fall, winter and spring. Fall and spring are generally very pleasant and dry. Mid-day temperatures in the fall and spring usually hover around 20 – 25 degrees (Celsius). Although most of the spring is nice, a “yellow dust” (황사) usually arrives from China sometime in early spring which prevents a lot of Korean people from wanting to go outside. Citizens are often advised not to do exercise outside when the dust levels are high, and to wear masks
In the summer, the temperature goes up and the air is humid. Temperatures may rise to 30 degrees or above. This isn’t terribly bad on its own, but the humidity adds to the heat. A rainy season (장마) comes every year sometime in July, and typically only lasts for a few weeks.
Winters are cold, but depending on where you are from, this may not be seen as terribly cold. I’m from Canada, where temperatures commonly drop to -20 degrees, coupled with 10-20 centimeters of snow overnight sometimes. When I moved to Korea the winters were much more bearable, especially because it doesn’t snow that often.
What really makes the winters seem cold is the strange culture of not wanting to heat entire public buildings. When you walk into a public building in Korea in the winter, individual businesses within the building will (usually) be heated, but the building itself will not. This is the same if you walk into most apartment buildings as well. That is, although people’s individual apartments will (again, usually) be heated, the hallways and entrances are not heated.
Heating in homes in the winter is done through something called 온돌. The 온돌 is a system in which the floors are heated. Korean traditional houses historically had their heat come through the floor, and this culture has continued to this day through the 온돌 system. Many Korean people do not sleep in a bed but instead sleep on the floor (this culture is also changing), which is one benefit of having the 온돌 system. It takes a little while to get used to not having a central heating system in your house, but there is nothing like falling to sleep on a heated floor.
That’s it for this lesson!
Have something you want to include? Want to know how to say a sentence in Korean? Post in the thread designated to this specific lesson in our Forum, and we will add it to this lesson.