Start with the weather you can describe
You are talking with someone in Cuba and the weather changes your afternoon. You want to say that it is hot, ask whether it is raining where they are, or suggest waiting before going out. A few complete sentences help more than a long list of dramatic expressions.
The examples here are original written practice, not recordings or a forecast. They use ordinary Spanish in Cuban settings. Start with Hace calor: “It is hot.” Add one useful detail: Hace mucho calor esta tarde. You have now described a particular afternoon rather than made a claim about every day in Cuba.
Hace calor and tengo calor answer different questions
Hace calor describes the weather or heat in a place. Tengo calor tells someone how you feel. Imagine that a friend is comfortable indoors while you have just come in from outside: Tengo calor. ¿Podemos abrir la ventana? Your feeling and the other person’s feeling can be different.
Try a pair of replies: ¿Qué tiempo hace allí? — Hace calor. ¿Tienes calor? — Sí, un poco. Keep the question beside the answer when you practise. That makes the choice of verb easier to understand. For the opposite feeling, use Tengo frío; for cold weather, Hace frío.
Follow the rain and the clouds
Está lloviendo means that rain is falling now. Está nublado describes cloudy conditions. One does not automatically mean the other. You can say Está nublado, pero todavía no está lloviendo: “It is cloudy, but it is not raining yet.” This gives your listener more information than a weather word alone.
In ¿Llueve mucho allí?, llueve can ask about what generally happens in that place. To ask about the present moment, add ahora or use ¿Está lloviendo ahora? The extra word makes your intention clear. You can practise both questions without claiming to know the climate or today’s conditions.
Ask a follow-up that fits the reply
Suppose you ask ¿Está lloviendo por tu casa? and hear Sí, bastante. You have an answer about the other person’s location. A useful next question might be ¿Esperamos un poco? if you were planning to meet. You do not need to turn the exchange into a weather report.
If you miss a word, ask for that part: ¿Dijiste que está lloviendo? Then listen for confirmation or correction. Our guide to asking for clarification in Cuban Spanish gives more ways to do this. Repeat what matters to your plan, especially a place or a time.
Read one complete exchange
Original practice dialogue: —¿Vamos al Malecón ahora? —Por aquí está lloviendo. ¿Esperamos un poco? —Sí. ¿Te llamo más tarde? —Dale, hablamos después. The first speaker proposes going out; the second describes local conditions and suggests waiting. The final two lines agree on another conversation, not an exact meeting time.
Notice por aquí: the speaker describes the area where they are. You should not turn that sentence into a forecast for all Havana. If you need a definite arrangement, add a separate question about the time. The guide to invitations and plans explains how to make that agreement clear.
Correct the meaning before adding new words
A learner says Hace frío because they personally feel cold, even though the conversation is about a warm room. If the intended meaning is “I feel cold,” change the sentence to Tengo frío. You have corrected the viewpoint, not contradicted everybody else. Then make the request you need: ¿Podemos cerrar la ventana? Work with the sentence that explains your own situation.
Another useful check is time. Está lloviendo ahora describes now; ayer llovió moves the rain to yesterday. If you only catch the word for rain, you can miss that difference. Ask ¿Ahora o ayer? to recover the point. You do not need a full discussion of past tenses to make that short clarification.
Try this original exercise: one person says Tengo calor, another says Por aquí está nublado. Who has described a personal feeling, and who has described conditions in a place? The first speaker gives a feeling; the second gives local conditions. Explain the difference before adding another phrase. For more contrasts between descriptions and states, continue with our ser and estar lesson.
Build your own short weather conversation
Choose three pieces of information: a place, the conditions and what you want to do. For example, practise a call to a friend in Camagüey: ¿Qué tiempo hace por allá? —Está nublado. —Por aquí hace sol. These are invented lines for practice; the place names give the exchange a setting, not verified weather.
Change one detail and answer again. Replace nublado with lloviendo, then decide whether your next question still makes sense. Read the exchange aloud and keep the phrases you can explain. When a real conversation brings an unfamiliar expression, write down the surrounding sentence and ask what it meant there.