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Winter started a few weeks ago in the northern hemisphere, and a cold snap is currently hitting France 🥶 The perfect opportunity to check on vocabulary! If you live in France or are spending a few days there, this will be very useful because... yes! The French love to talk about the weather! It's a topic that's part of everyday conversation, with family, colleagues or even people you don't know (for example, in a store, at the boulangerie...). In this article, I'll give you some useful vocabulary and phrases to keep you up to date on winter in France.
The seasons
In all countries of the northern hemisphere, the year is divided into 4 seasons of 3 months each:
L'hiver (pronounce the "r" at the end) - winter
Le printemps (don't pronounce the ending "-ps" : /pʁɛ̃tɑ̃/) - spring
L'été - summer
L'automne (don't pronounce the "m") - autumn
Winter in France in 25 words
la neige - snow
un flocon de neige - a snowflake
un bonhomme de neige - a snowman
le brouillard - fog
le gel - frost
le verglas - freezing rain
un pull en laine - a wool sweater
un bonnet - a cap
une cagoule - a balaclava
une écharpe - a scarf
des gants - gloves
des moufles - mitts
un manteau - a coat
des chaussettes - socks
un feu de cheminée - a fireplace
un plaid - a blanket
la patinoire - ice rink
le patin à glace - ice skating
le ski - ski
la luge - sled
le télésiège - chairlift
la température - temperature
attraper froid - to catch a col
être malade - to be sick
un rhume (être enrhumé.e) - a cold (to have a cold)
3 dishes the French love in winter
There's nothing like a warm, rich dish to warm you up and comfort you on a cold day! The French are particularly fond of 3 cheese-based dishes, all from Savoie in the Alps.
La raclette: THE star of winter in France! This is a type of cheese that is cooked in an appliance specially designed for this dish. Slices of cheese are placed in a small frying pan and melted in the device. When the cheese has melted, it is poured over potatoes. Raclette is traditionally eaten with charcuterie, but also with small vegetables, gherkins or green salad to lighten the dish and ease the conscience 🤭.
La tartiflette: This dish is made with another cheese called "reblochon". Potatoes, lardons and onions are placed in a dish, slices of reblochon are added on top and baked in the oven to gratinate the cheese.
La fondue savoyarde: This time, we melt several cheeses like Comté, Beaufort, Abondance or Gruyère with wine and liqueur (yes, yes!). Then dip small pieces of bread in it!
Don't confuse fondue savoyarde with fondue bourguignonne (from Burgundy). The principle is similar, but they are 2 totally different dishes. Fondue bourguignonne involves cooking pieces of meat (normally beef) in an oil bath. 🙄
As you can imagine, we're looking for comfort in warm, rich and convivial dishes! But soup is also one of winter's stars, as is pot-au-feu (a meat and vegetable broth).
Winter in France: useful phrases about the weather
Il neige. - It's snowing.
Il y a du brouillard. - It's foggy.
Il fait combien aujourd'hui ? Il fait 3 degrés. - What's the temperature today? It's 3 degrees.
Il fait froid. - It's cold.
Il caille. / Ça caille. (informal) - It's cold.
Il y a du vent. - It's windy.
Ça glisse. - It's slippery.
5 manières de dire qu'il fait froid (5 ways to say it's cold)
What to do in France in winter
Winter varies according to the region of France you live in. For example, in the south-east, on the shores of the Mediterranean, winter is mild (average 13-14ºC). But in the north, winter is colder and wetter (average 6ºC). In the mornings, temperatures are often very cold (below 0ºC), so it's freezing, there's black ice on the roads, and sometimes it snows.
In the mountains, the climate is obviously harsher: it snows a lot and you can ski there. In fact, the Alps are the number one vacation destination for winter sports (skiing, tobogganing, snowboarding, hiking...). Why not take a trip there? I recommend the following towns:
Annecy, nicknamed the "Venice of the Alps" for its canals
Chamonix and Mont-Blanc: you can climb to the top of the Aiguille du Midi (3842 meters above sea level!) thanks to France's highest cable car.
the chic resort of Courchevel
Thonon-les-Bains, Aix-les-Bains or Évian-les-bains for their spa treatments, the ideal place to warm up and relax
Whatever the region, the nights start early and the days are short: the sun sets around 5 p.m. at the end of December. The days begin to lengthen from December 21 (the shortest day of the year). At the end of March, when spring arrives, the sun sets at around 7pm.
So light is not winter's strong point. But the good thing is that there are far fewer tourists than in summer! So it's perhaps the ideal time to visit some of the usually crowded sites, such as :
Mont Saint-Michel
Château de Versailles
The Normandy landing beaches
The Côte d'Azur: don't miss the Lemon Festival in Menton! (late February to early March)