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Weather without a dummy 'it': 'fa freddo', 'piove', 'nevica'

When talking about the weather in English, we always rely on a dummy subject. We say that it is raining, it is cold, or it is snowing. That little word does not refer to any specific object, but English grammar requires a subject in every sentence.

Italian handles the weather quite differently. Weather expressions in Italian are completely impersonal, meaning they drop the dummy pronoun entirely. Instead of saying that something is making the weather happen, Italian simply states the condition. Whether you are describing temperature with phrases like fare freddo or talking about precipitation with verbs like piovere, the verb stands alone in the third person singular.

Word list
piovereA1 to rain piove = it's raining fare caldoA2 to be hot fa caldo = it's hot fare freddoA2 to be cold fa freddo = it's cold nevicareA2 to snow nevica = it's snowing gelareB1 to freeze gela = it's freezing piovigginareB1 to drizzle pioviggina = it's drizzling tuonareB1 to thunder tuona = it's thundering
Temperature and general conditions with fare

For temperature and general weather conditions, Italian relies on the verb fare, which translates to to make or to do. The verb is conjugated in the third person singular as fa for present tense statements.

You will frequently use fare caldo and fare freddo to describe how the air feels. Remember not to add any subject pronouns before the verb. If you want to say that the weather is nice, you can also use the related phrase fare bel tempo.

Oggi fa molto caldo.
(It's very hot today.)
Mettiti il cappotto, fuori fa freddo.
(Put your coat on, it's cold outside.)
Dedicated weather verbs

When it comes to precipitation and storms, Italian uses specific impersonal verbs rather than fare. Just like the temperature expressions, these verbs are conjugated in the third person singular and have no subject.

The most common of these verbs are piovere and nevicare. For more specific weather events, you might use piovigginare, tuonare, or even words like grandinare (to hail) and lampeggiare (to lightning).

In autunno piove spesso qui.
(In autumn it rains often here.)
Domenica nevicherà in montagna.
(Tomorrow it will snow in the mountains.)
Non serve l'ombrello, pioviggina soltanto.
(You don't need the umbrella, it's only drizzling.)
Sento un rumore, forse tuona in lontananza.
(I hear a noise, maybe it's thundering in the distance.)
Combining expressions and changing tenses

Because all of these expressions behave exactly the same way grammatically, it is very easy to string them together to describe a miserable or beautiful day. You simply join the third person verbs with a conjunction.

You can also freely change the tense of these impersonal verbs to talk about the past or the future. Just keep them in the third person singular form, such as the future tense pioverà or the imperfect tense faceva freddo.

Oggi piove e fa freddo.
(Today it's raining and it's cold.)
Ieri nevicava e faceva molto freddo.
(Yesterday it was snowing and it was very cold.)
Summary

When talking about the weather in Italian, leave out the English dummy it. Use the third person singular of fare for temperatures, and dedicated impersonal verbs like piovere or nevicare for precipitation.