Talking About the Weather in Chinese: Rainy Day Dialogue & Changing Plans ☔

In this lesson, you’ll learn essential Chinese phrases for everyday situations. Follow along as a plan to go to the park is suddenly interrupted by rain, and see how the speakers adapt by suggesting a cozy alternative. You’ll master vocabulary for weather, and learn how to make and accept new suggestions.

💬 Video Transcript

王伟: 你好，李娜！
(Wáng Wěi: Hello, Lǐ Nà!)

李娜: 你好，王伟！今天天气很好！
(Lǐ Nà: Hello, Wáng Wěi! The weather is great today!)

王伟: 是啊，天气很好。我们去公园，好吗？
(Wáng Wěi: Yes, the weather is great. Let’s go to the park, okay?)

李娜: 好啊！我喜欢去公园。我们走吧！
(Lǐ Nà: Okay! I like going to the park. Let’s go!)

王伟: 好，我们走…… 嗯？李娜，你看天上。
(Wáng Wěi: Okay, let’s go… Huh? Lǐ Nà, look at the sky.)

李娜: 天上？怎么了？
(Lǐ Nà: The sky? What’s wrong?)

王伟: 你看！下雨了！
(Wáng Wěi: Look! It’s raining!)

李娜: 啊！真的！下雨了！
(Lǐ Nà: Ah! Really! It’s raining!)

王伟: 刚才天气很好，现在天气不好了。
(Wáng Wěi: The weather was great just now, now the weather is not good.)

李娜: 是的，现在下雨了。也有一点冷。
(Lǐ Nà: Yes, it’s raining now. It’s also a little bit cold.)

王伟: 我也觉得有点冷。糟糕，我没有雨伞。
(Wáng Wěi: I also feel a bit cold. Oh no, I don’t have an umbrella.)

李娜: 雨伞？我看看…… 啊，我也没雨伞。
(Lǐ Nà: Umbrella? Let me see… Ah, I don’t have an umbrella either.)

王伟: 你没有雨伞？
(Wáng Wěi: You don’t have an umbrella?)

李娜: 我没有。你呢？你真的没有雨伞吗？
(Lǐ Nà: I don’t. How about you? You really don’t have an umbrella?)

王伟: 我真的没有。我们都没有雨伞。
(Wáng Wěi: I really don’t. Neither of us has an umbrella.)

李娜: 那我们不能去公园了。
(Lǐ Nà: Then we can’t go to the park anymore.)

王伟: 是的，下雨了，我们不去公园了。
(Wáng Wěi: Yes, it’s raining, we’re not going to the park anymore.)

李娜: 那我们去哪里？
(Lǐ Nà: Then where should we go?)

王伟: 我想一个地方…… 我们去我的家，好吗？
(Wáng Wěi: I’m thinking of a place… Let’s go to my house, okay?)

李娜: 去你的家？
(Lǐ Nà: Go to your house?)

王伟: 对，我的家不远，很近。
(Wáng Wěi: Yes, my house is not far, it’s very close.)

李娜: 去你的家做什么？
(Lǐ Nà: What will we do at your house?)

王伟: 我的家有热茶。我们可以喝热茶。
(Wáng Wěi: My house has hot tea. We can drink hot tea.)

李娜: 喝热茶？太好了！
(Lǐ Nà: Drink hot tea? That’s great!)

王伟: 天气冷，下雨了，喝热茶很好。
(Wáng Wěi: The weather is cold, it’s raining, drinking hot tea is very nice.)

李娜: 我同意。我喜欢喝热茶。
(Lǐ Nà: I agree. I like to drink hot tea.)

王伟: 我也很喜欢。那我们去我的家吧！
(Wáng Wěi: I also like it very much. Then let’s go to my house!)

李娜: 好！我们现在就去你的家。
(Lǐ Nà: Okay! Let’s go to your house right now.)

王伟: 太好了！我们走吧！
(Wáng Wěi: Great! Let’s go!)

📝 Essential Vocabulary

Here are some key words and phrases from the dialogue. Practice them to build your core vocabulary for talking about weather and making plans.

🔍 Grammar Focus

Let’s look at two important grammar points from this conversation.

1. Indicating a Change of State with 了 (le)

In Mandarin, the particle 了 (le) is often placed at the end of a sentence to indicate that a new situation has occurred or a state has changed. It’s not just a past tense marker. In the dialogue, the weather changes from good to bad.

Notice how the characters use 了 to describe this change:

• 下雨了！ (Xià yǔ le!) - It’s raining now! (The state changed from not raining to raining.)
• 刚才天气很好，现在天气不好了。 (Gāngcái tiānqì hěn hǎo, xiànzài tiānqì bù hǎo le.) - The weather was good just now, now the weather is not good. (The state of the weather has changed.)

2. Negating Possession with 没有 (méiyǒu)

To say you “don’t have” something in Chinese, you use 没有 (méiyǒu). This is the standard way to negate the verb 有 (yǒu), which means “to have.” It’s different from the general negator 不 (bù), which is used for most other verbs.

Examples from the script:

• 我没有雨伞。 (Wǒ méiyǒu yǔsǎn.) - I don’t have an umbrella.
• 你真的没有雨伞吗？ (Nǐ zhēn de méiyǒu yǔsǎn ma?) - Do you really not have an umbrella?

Remember: For possession, always use 没有 (méiyǒu) for the negative, never 不有 (bù yǒu).

🌍 Cultural Tip

🃏 Flip & Learn

Use these flashcards to test your memory on key phrases from the dialogue.

💡 Key Takeaways

Here are the most important points to remember from this lesson:

• Use 了 (le) to talk about a change in situation, like when the weather suddenly turns rainy: 下雨了!
• To say you don’t possess something, always use 没有 (méiyǒu). For example, 我没有雨伞 (I don’t have an umbrella).
• To make a suggestion, you can state the activity and add 好吗？ (hǎo ma?) at the end, which means “okay?” or “sound good?”.
• When plans change, you can suggest a new location by saying 我们去 [place] 吧! (Wǒmen qù [place] ba! - Let’s go to [place]!).

🎯 Practice Quiz

Test your understanding of the dialogue with these questions.

✍️ Fill in the Blanks

Let’s test your spelling and memory! Fill in the missing words below. Use correct spelling.