Weather and News Audio

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to understand key vocabulary and sentence patterns used in spoken Japanese weather reports and short news items. You'll learn to catch important details like temperature, weather conditions, and time expressions.

Japanese weather and news reports use specific, predictable patterns. They often start with a greeting, state the current weather, then give a forecast. News items follow a similar structure: headline, details, and closing. The key is recognizing common vocabulary and sentence-ending patterns.

1. Key Weather Vocabulary

Learn these essential words that appear in almost every weather report:

2. Key News Vocabulary

Common words in short news audio:

3. Common Sentence Patterns

Pattern 1: Describing weather

• 今日は___です。(Kyou wa ___ desu.) - Today is ___.今日

Pattern 2: Giving a forecast

• 明日は___でしょう。(Ashita wa ___ deshou.) - Tomorrow will probably be ___.明日

Pattern 3: Temperature

• 最高気温は___度です。(Saikou kion wa ___ do desu.) - The high temperature is ___ degrees.最高気温度

Pattern 4: News introduction

• 次(つぎ)のニュースです。(Tsugi no nyuusu desu.) - Here is the next news.次

Example 1: Simple weather report

今日の天気は晴れです。気温は25度です。
Kyou no tenki wa hare desu. Kion wa 25 do desu.
Today's weather is sunny. The temperature is 25 degrees.今日天気晴温

Example 2: Forecast with probability

明日は曇りでしょう。午後から雨が降るでしょう。
Ashita wa kumori deshou. Gogo kara ame ga furu deshou.
Tomorrow will probably be cloudy. It will probably rain from the afternoon.明日曇午後雨

Example 3: News item with warning

ニュースです。今夜、強い風に注意してください。
Nyuusu desu. Konya, tsuyoi kaze ni chuui shite kudasai.
Here is the news. Tonight, please be careful of strong winds.今夜強風注意

Example 4: Temperature range

最高気温は30度、最低気温は22度でしょう。
Saikou kion wa 30 do, saitei kion wa 22 do deshou.
The high will probably be 30 degrees, the low 22 degrees.最高気温度低

Mistake: Confusing 今日 (kyou - today) with 明日 (ashita - tomorrow) in fast speech.今日明

Why it happens: Both words start with similar sounds and appear in the same position in sentences.

Fix: Listen for the second syllable:

• きょう (kyou) - ends with a long "o" sound
• あした (ashita) - has a clear "shi" sound in the middle

Practice by listening for the time word first before the weather word.

Drill 1: Listen and fill in the missing weather word.

1. 今日の天気は___です。(It's sunny.)
   Answer: 晴れ (hare)今日天気晴

   今日天気晴

2. 明日は___でしょう。(It will probably be rainy.)
   Answer: 雨 (ame)明日雨

   明日雨

Drill 2: Match the Japanese to the English.

1. 気温 (kion) → ___気温
2. 注意 (chuui) → ___注意
3. 警報 (keihou) → ___警報

Answers: temperature, caution, warning

Summary: You now know:

• Key weather and news vocabulary (10+ words)
• How to describe current weather (___です)
• How to give forecasts (___でしょう)
• How to understand temperature and warnings

Next Step: Practice listening to real Japanese weather reports on YouTube or NHK News Easy. Focus on catching the time word (今日/明日) and the weather word (晴れ/雨/曇り). Then try to identify the temperature number.今日明晴雨曇