Regarding the translation of 'the weather was beautiful the whole time!'
the answer is given as:
il a fait beau tout le temps !
BUT an alternative answer is also given:
"il a fait un temps magnifique tout le temps !"
This seems to conflict with the lesson ‘Talking about the weather with il fait + [adjective]’ which states that: -
"Il fait should always be followed by an adjective, and il y a used with nouns."
Could you please clarify as un temps is a noun.
Thank you
Hi Stewart,
Very interesting point...
Indeed you are correct, there are a few expressions when faire will be followed by the noun 'temps' (weather) or other nouns indicating heat/ cold, some particularly graphic, but I can only think of:
Il fait un temps de chien = The weather is awful
Il fait un temps pourri = The weather is miserable
Il fait une chaleur d'enfer/ assommante/ de plomb = The heat is unbearable
Il fait un froid de canard = It's freezing cold
Or
' Il a fait un temps magnifique' = the weather was beautiful
as in the exercise,
but mostly Il fait will be followed by an adjective ....
Thank you Cécile, I'm perfectly happy with your explanation.
As always nothing in French is as straightforward as it first appears and that's what is so great about having this learning programme to demystify these situations.
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