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Just like a heatwave!

Heat-Related Vocabulary in French

For the past couple of days, anyone in France who’s stepped foot outside or even opened a window has certainly noticed that Mother Nature a allumé le chauffage à fond (has turned the heat up on high)! It’s actually a result of hot winds making their way up from Africa. France isn’t the only one experiencing une canicule (a heatwave): l’Espagne, le Portugal, et certaines parties du Royaume-Uni (Spain, Portugal, and parts of the UK) have all been affected.

It’s a big deal, too. Temperatures in some places are soaring up to 42°C (107.6°F), and for un pays qui n’est pas habitué à la chaleur (a country that isn’t used to the heat), this can be very dangerous. Unlike the US, not many houses have la clim (shortened form of climitisation, meaning air conditioning). On beautiful days, French people open les volets (the blinds/shutters) of their windows and let the air blow in. When the air coming through is hot, though, it doesn’t serve much of a purpose. Even if some homes are equipped with an air conditioner, it doesn’t mean you can always run them. À cause de la canicule (because of the heatwave), 830,000 households lost power overnight in the western side of the country this week. In 2003, 14,802 heat-related deaths were reported after temperatures spiked in France.

This year, to keep their citizens cool, the French government has put into a place un plan anti-canicule (anti-heatwave plan). If you’re in Paris, you can find public air-conditioned rooms. They’ve also released the graphics to help the public. We’ve reproduced one of the graphics below. The language is pretty easy. Click the image for the full-sized version. What do you understand?

Today we’re going to look at some vocabulary related to heat and the words chaud and chaleur.

Describing Hot Weather

Il faut chaud – It’s hot out

Il y a du soleil – It’s sunny

Il fait beau – It’s nice out

Il fait lourd – It’s heavy out

Il fait __ degrés – It’s __ degrees (don’t forget to use Celsius!)

la canicule – heatwave

un coup de soleil – sunburn

cramer – to burn (here, because of the sun)

Words/Expressions with “Chaleur”

la chaleur – heat / warmth

la chaleur accablante – sweltering heat

un coup de chaleur – heatstroke

être en chaleur – to be in heat (for animals)

faire une chaleur épouvantable – to be unbearably hot

l’humidité – humidity

un échange de chaleur – heat exchange (physics)

un four à chaleur tournante  – convection oven

une bouffée de chaleur – hot flash

une perte de chaleur – heat loss

Words/Expressions with “Chaud”

chaud(e) – hot

à chaud – immediate, initial

au chaud – warm (food, for example)

avoir chaud – to be hot (don’t use être here! read below.)

avoir eu chaud – narrow escape/”a close one”

avoir le sang chaud – to be hot-blooded

battre le fer quand il est chaud – strike it while the iron’s hot

chaud devant – coming through (said when you’re carrying things and need people to move)

chaud lapin – horndog (familiar)

un commentaire à chaud – a comment made right after an event

craindre le chaud – to be sensitive to heat

crever de chaud – to bake/boil (from being in the heat)

être chaud – to be horny (familiar)

faire chaud au coeur – to warm your heart

faire des gorges chaudes – make fun of someone

garder au chaud – to keep something warm

des habits chauds – warm clothes

mettre au chaud – to put something away for a rainy day

mourir de chaud – to die from heat

ni faire chaud ni froid/cela ne me fait ni chaud ni froid – I don’t mind either way

pleurer à chaudes larmes – crying, but with many, many years

une réaction à chaud – a lively response

refiler la patate chaude – to drop/get rid of something/someone bothersome or annoying

souffler le chaud et le froid – blow hot and cold (alternate between 2 differing opinions)

un chaud et froid – a sudden drop in temperature

Did I miss any? Feel free to leave a comment below.

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Blog submitted by: Sharon at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.