This page outlines vocabulary for weather types and seasons in Brazilian Portuguese.
Due to its vast size, the weather in Brazil can vary significantly depending on the region and time of year. Brazil is famous for its tropical climate, rainforests and sandy beaches, however, it can snow in some parts of southern Brazil in the winter. It can even be surprisingly cool in some parts of the country in the summer. On my last visit, I was unexpectedly caught out by the cold weather in Curitiba in the summer and needed to buy an emergency hoodie.
Vocabulary for types of weather in Brazilian Portuguese
| weather | clima |
| rain | chuva |
| clouds | nuvens |
| wind | vento |
| breeze | brisa |
| snow | neve |
| sun | sol |
| fog | névoa |
| thunder | trovão |
| rainbow | arco-íris |
| storm | tempestade |
Words to describe the weather in Brazilian Portuguese
| hot | quente |
| cold | frio |
| cool | fresco |
| rainy | chuvoso |
| humid | úmido |
| sunny | ensolarado |
| windy | ventoso |
| cloudy | nublado |
| stormy | tormentoso |
Using the verbs fazer and estar to describe the weather
The irregular verbs fazer and estar are commonly used when describing the weather in Brazilian Portuguese. See here for more information about the verb estar.
Since estar is used to describe things that are temporary, it is used to talk about current weather conditions, whereas fazer is used when talking about the weather generally.
The third person singular conjugation is typically used when describing the weather. See here for more information about conjugating verbs in Brazilian Portuguese.
See below for some examples showing how fazer and estar are used when describing the weather:
| It’s cold today | está frio hoje |
| In the winter, it is very cold | no inverno faz muito frio |
How to ask questions about the weather in Brazilian Portuguese
See below for a couple of common ways to ask questions about the weather in Brazilian Portuguese:
| What is the weather like today? | Como está o clima hoje? |
| What is the weather forecast for today? | Qual é a previsão do tempo para hoje? |
Names of seasons in Brazilian Portuguese
Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere and so seasons are the opposite of those in the UK and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Summer is from December to March the colder months are from May to September.
| spring | primavera |
| summer | verão |
| autumn | outono |
| winter | inverno |
| the seasons of the year | as estações do ano |
To say in the summer, spring, etc. use the contractions no or na (depending on the gender) and the season:
| na primavera | in the spring |
| no verão | in the summer |
| no outono | in the autumn |
| no inverno | in the winter |
See here for more information about contractions in Brazilian Portuguese.
Weather types and seasons flashcards
Test your understanding of weather types and seasons using the flashcards below. Click on the card to reveal the translation and the arrows to move between questions:
| 👈 Previous page | Next page 👉 |
| Days, weeks, months and years | Demonstratives |