Staying inside in bad weather | Learn French in English

Sentence explanations

1. Le temps a l'air mauvais.

   The weather looks bad.

   temps

   weather

   a l'air

   looks; seems

   mauvais

   bad

   More detail

   temps means “weather” here, in the common expression le temps for the weather. The same noun can also mean “time” in other contexts, but the adjective mauvais makes the weather reading clear here. Example: Le temps est beau. — “The weather is nice.” a l'air is the third-person singular present form of avoir l'air, a reusable construction meaning “to look” or “to seem.” The form a comes from avoir; it is not the preposition à. With a different subject, the auxiliary changes: Les nuages ont l'air sombres. — “The clouds look dark.” mauvais means “bad” here and describes le temps. It is a masculine singular adjective form, agreeing with the masculine singular noun temps. Its feminine singular form is mauvaise, as in the example La météo est mauvaise. — “The weather is bad.” Together, Le temps identifies the weather, a l'air presents its appearance, and mauvais describes that appearance: “The weather looks bad.” The sentence reports how the weather appears; it does not directly assert a specific outcome such as a storm.

2. Une tempête arrive peut-être.

   A storm may be coming.

   tempête

   storm

   arrive

   is coming / arrives

   peut-être

   maybe

   More detail

   tempête means “storm” here. It is a feminine noun; its plural is tempêtes. The feminine form matters for the article in une tempête, while the noun itself has no visible singular ending change. Example: La tempête arrive. — “The storm is coming.” arrive comes from the infinitive arriver and is the present-tense form for a third-person singular subject. Here, that subject is une tempête, so arrive agrees with it. French present tense can describe an event that is happening or approaching; in this sentence, “is coming” is the natural meaning. Example: Le train arrive. — “The train is arriving.” peut-être is an adverb meaning “maybe” or “perhaps.” It marks the statement as uncertain rather than asserting that the storm is definitely coming. Example: Il viendra peut-être. — “He may come.” The pattern Une + feminine singular noun gives “a” or “one” in an indefinite sense; the article does not by itself assert a numerical count. Une tempête means “a storm.” Adding arrive gives “a storm is coming,” and placing peut-être after the verb makes the whole prediction uncertain: “A storm may be coming.”

3. On reste à l'intérieur ?

   Should we stay inside?

   On

   we

   reste

   stay

   à l'intérieur

   inside

   More detail

   On is the subject pronoun meaning “we” here. In present-day informal French, on commonly replaces nous for a group including the speaker, while the verb normally has third-person singular agreement: on reste, not a plural form. Example: On part maintenant ? — “Shall we leave now?” reste comes from rester, “to stay” or “to remain.” Here it is the present-tense form used with on. The same form also appears with je and il/elle: je reste, il reste; the subject identifies the person or group. Example: Je reste ici. — “I’m staying here.” à l'intérieur means “inside” or “indoors.” l'intérieur is the noun “the interior/inside,” and à marks the location. The phrase can be reused with other movement or location verbs, for example: Nous sommes à l'intérieur. — “We are inside.” Together, On reste asks about continuing to stay, and à l'intérieur specifies the location. With the question intonation and question mark, On reste à l'intérieur ? is a suggestion or proposal equivalent here to “Should we stay inside?”

4. On attend ici jusqu'à ce que la tempête passe.

   Let's wait here until it passes.

   On

   we

   attend

   wait

   ici

   here

   jusqu'à ce que

   until

   tempête

   storm

   passe

   passes

   More detail

   On means “we” in this utterance, matching the fixed translation “Let’s wait.” French on is grammatically third-person singular even when it refers to a group, so the verb form is singular. In other contexts, on can mean “people” or “one,” but that is not the intended meaning here. attend comes from attendre, “to wait.” It is the present-tense form used with singular on: j’attends, tu attends, il/elle/on attend. The final -d is written but not pronounced. Example: On attend le bus. — “We’re waiting for the bus.” ici means “here.” It is a location adverb and does not change form. Here it identifies where the waiting takes place. jusqu'à ce que introduces the endpoint of the waiting: “until …”. This construction is followed by a clause and takes the subjunctive in standard French. Example: Reste ici jusqu'à ce que je revienne. — “Stay here until I come back.” In la tempête, tempête means “storm.” The noun is feminine, shown by the article la; the noun itself does not change because of that gender. Example: La tempête approche. — “The storm is approaching.” passe comes from passer, “to pass.” With an event such as a storm, it can mean “to pass” or “to pass over.” Here it is the present subjunctive, third-person singular, agreeing with la tempête in que la tempête passe. This subjunctive form looks the same as the present indicative form for this person: elle passe can mean “she passes,” while after que in this construction it contributes the meaning “that she pass.” Together, On attend ici means “Let’s wait here,” and jusqu'à ce que la tempête passe specifies how long: “until the storm passes.” The complete utterance therefore means “Let’s wait here until it passes,” with “it” referring to the storm identified in the French clause.

5. On peut sortir quand la tempête est finie ?

   Can we go out after it stops?

   On peut

   can we

   sortir

   go out

   quand

   when

   la tempête

   the storm

   finie

   over

   More detail

   On peut combines on with the present-tense form peut of pouvoir (“to be able to”). In this utterance, on means “we,” as confirmed by the fixed translation and the surrounding context. Peut is the third-person singular form because on takes singular verb agreement in standard French, even when it refers to several people. The pattern On peut + infinitive ? is a reusable way to ask whether “we” can or may do something. Example: On peut entrer ? — “Can we come in?” Sortir is the infinitive of “to go out” or “to leave.” After pouvoir, the following verb stays in the infinitive: On peut sortir means “we can go out,” not a second conjugated verb. Example: Elle peut sortir. — “She can go out.” Quand introduces a time clause meaning “when.” It connects an action with the time at which a condition is true. Here it introduces the point at which the storm is over. Example: Je partirai quand tu seras prêt. — “I will leave when you are ready.” La tempête means “the storm.” Tempête is a feminine noun, so its singular definite article is la. The article identifies a particular storm in this context; it does not itself express a number beyond singular grammatical agreement. Example: La tempête arrive. — “The storm is coming.” Finie comes from finir, “to finish” or “to end.” In est finie, it is the feminine singular past participle used with être and agrees with la tempête: the storm is finished, or more naturally, over. The masculine singular form is fini, while the feminine singular form is finie; the extra e belongs to finie, not to tempête. Here this describes the storm’s completed state, rather than naming an action that the storm performs. Example: La réunion est finie. — “The meeting is over.” Together, On peut asks about permission or possibility for “us,” sortir names the proposed action, and quand la tempête est finie sets the time condition. The whole utterance therefore asks whether the speakers can go out once the storm has ended. It is a natural, conversational question.

6. On peut regarder la météo encore une fois et décider ensuite.

   We can check the weather again and decide then.

   On peut

   we can

   regarder

   to look at; to check

   météo

   weather

   encore une fois

   again; one more time

   décider

   to decide

   ensuite

   then; afterward

   More detail

   On peut means “we can” here. On is a third-person singular subject form that commonly means “we” in everyday French; it can also mean “one” or “people” in other contexts, so its exact reference comes from the sentence. Peut is the present-tense form of pouvoir for on. A useful pattern is on peut + infinitive: “we can …” / “it is possible to …”. Example: On peut attendre. — “We can wait.” Regarder is an infinitive meaning “to look at” or, with something such as information, “to check.” After peut, French uses the infinitive: On peut regarder. The form regarder is unchanged for the subject in this construction. Example: Je peux regarder le résultat. — “I can check the result.” La météo means “the weather” or “the weather conditions.” Météo is a feminine noun, which is why the sentence uses la. Example: La météo est bonne. — “The weather is good.” Encore une fois means “again” or “one more time.” It is a reusable time expression; it applies to the action rather than changing the verb form. Example: Écoute encore une fois. — “Listen one more time.” Décider means “to decide.” It is another infinitive coordinated with regarder by et: regarder … et décider …. Example: Nous devons décider. — “We have to decide.” Ensuite means “then” or “afterward.” Here it places the deciding after the weather check. It is an adverb and does not change form. Example: On mange ensuite. — “We’ll eat afterward.” Together, On peut regarder la météo encore une fois says “We can check the weather again.” Et décider ensuite adds a second coordinated action: “and decide afterward.” Thus the whole utterance means, “We can check the weather again and decide then.”

7. On peut faire du thé pendant qu'on attend.

   We can make some tea while we wait.

   On peut

   we can

   faire

   make

   du thé

   some tea

   pendant qu'on

   while we

   attend

   wait

   More detail

   On peut means “we can” here. on is a subject pronoun that takes the same verb form as third-person singular; in this sentence, the fixed translation identifies its intended meaning as “we.” peut is the present form of pouvoir for on/third-person singular. The construction on peut + infinitive expresses ability or possibility: On peut partir. = “We can leave.” faire is the infinitive of faire, “to do” or “to make.” After peut, the second verb stays in the infinitive: On peut faire... means “We can make...” In this sentence, faire is used for preparing tea; its meaning depends on the following context. du thé means “some tea.” du is the partitive form used with an uncounted amount of a masculine mass noun: de + le becomes du. It presents tea as an unspecified amount, not as a stated exact quantity. Compare du thé (“some tea”) with un thé (“a tea,” often one serving or order). pendant qu'on introduces the time relation “while we ...” pendant que means “while,” and qu'on is the contracted form of que on. Here on is the subject of the following verb. Example: Je lis pendant qu'on attend. = “I read while we wait.” attend is the present form of attendre, “to wait,” with on as its subject. The present tense presents the waiting as simultaneous with the tea-making. Attendre can also take a direct object when the meaning is “wait for”: On attend le bus. = “We are waiting for the bus.” Together, On peut faire du thé gives “We can make some tea,” and pendant qu'on attend adds the simultaneous activity “while we wait.” The whole utterance therefore means: “We can make some tea while we wait.”

8. Ça aidera à passer le temps.

   That will help pass the time.

   Ça

   that; it

   aidera

   will help

   passer le temps

   pass the time

   More detail

   Ça is the demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” or “it” here. It is the subject and points to an already mentioned thing or situation; in the supplied context, it refers back to the proposed action. Ça is invariable, so it does not change for grammatical gender or number. A more formal alternative is cela. aidera comes from the verb aider, “to help.” It is the third-person singular future form: aider → il/elle/ça aidera. The future places the helping after the current reference point. With à followed by an infinitive, aider à faire quelque chose means “help to do something” or simply “help do something.” passer is the infinitive “to pass” or “to spend” when used with time. In passer le temps, it forms a common expression meaning “to pass/spend the time.” The infinitive is used after à in aidera à passer. le temps means “the time” in this expression. The definite article is part of the usual expression passer le temps; it does not mean a particular measured amount of time. Together, Ça aidera means “That will help,” and à passer le temps specifies what it will help with: passing the time. The whole utterance therefore means, “That will help pass the time.”