We all like to talk about the weather. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do so in Luxembourgish. There are even a few hidden vocabulary dangers in talking about how warm or cold you are! I’ll tell you how to avoid that problem.
When you’re in Luxembourg, it is useful to understand a typical conversation about the weather. Will you need an umbrella e Prabbeli today, or not?
By the way do you know the Luxembourgish word for weather ….? This is Wieder.
Talk About The Weather in the Present: Wéi ass d’Wieder?
Let’s start with some common weather questions and vocabulary.
Learn first to ASK someone:
- Wéi ass d’Wieder? How is the weather?
- Wéi ass et dobaussen? How is it outside?
You can ANSWER to that question by starting your sentence with
‘t ass … + Adjective
(‘t ass is the short form of et ass):
‘t ass waarm. It is warm.
‘t ass äiskal. It is freezing (cold as ice)..
‘t ass frësch. It is cool.
‘t ass bedeckt. It is cloudy.
‘t ass naass. It is wet / rainy.
‘t ass fiicht. It is humid.
‘t ass dompeg / schmeier. It is muggy / thundery.
‘t ass schéint Wieder. It is nice / lovely weather.
‘t ass schlecht Wieder. It is bad weather.
If you ask the question Wéi ass d’Wieder haut? and the answer starts with Haut today you have to switch round the verb and the subject:
Haut ass et ganz waarm. Today it is very hot.
Haut ass et kal. Today it is cold.
BUT you can NOT always ANSWER to that question by starting your sentence with ‘t ass. Then you have to use
Et + Verb
Et reent. It is raining.
Et schneit. It is snowing.
Et stiermt. It storms (a storm rages).
Well, in Luxembourg you will quite often hear native speakers saying Et fisemt when the rain drops are tiny and falling slowly. In English I think this translates into it is drizzy.
Et ass mir waarm
Although it is okay to say “I’m hot/cold” in English, this is not the case in Luxembourgish. To express that you feel hot or cold in Luxembourgish, you use a Dative Pronoun: dir or mir for example. A Luxembourger says to me it is hot rather than I am hot:
- Et ass mir sou kal haut! I am feeling so cool today.
- Ass et dir ze waarm? Do you (informal singular) feel too hot?
How Is The Weather Going To Be Like: Wéi gëtt d’Wieder?
Gëtt comes from the verb ginn and in this case it means to become, becoming. So Wéi gëtt d’Wieder? means literally how is the weather becoming?
You can ANSWER to that question by using gëtt:
- Et gëtt schéint Wieder. It is going to be lovely weather.
- Muer gëtt et Reen. Tomorrow it is going to rain.
- D’nächst Woch gëtt et Schnéi / D’nächst Woch schneit et. Next week it is going to snow.
Alternatively you can ANSWER to that question by saying Et bleift ….:
- Muer bleift et dréchen. Tomorrow it is going to stay dry.
- Et bleift weiderhi(n) kal a fiicht. It will continue to remain cold and humid.
Or when listening to a conversation about the weather you may hear Si hu Ree fir haut gemellt meaning that they have announced rain for today.
Now before we finish this lesson learn as well that you are likely to hear native speakers saying Et ass immens dompeg … et gëtt bestëmmt e Wieder. Here e Wieder does not mean the weather but it is the short form of en Donnerwieder which means a thunderstorm.
I hope that this was helpful.
