How to say things are “Hot” and “Cold” in Spanish

As many Spanish learners know, saying whether you are feeling hot or cold and talking about the weather in Spanish isn’t as straightforward as in English. In Spanish you tend to switch between the verbs “estar” and “hacer”. Without going too much into grammar, in this blog we will try to make it simple.

Talking about objects, food or drink that is hot or cold to the touch, use “estar”:

Esta sopa está muy caliente. This soup is very hot.
Esta sopa está muy fría. This soup is very cold.

[Remember to make adjectives agree with the noun they are describing.]

Inner feeling

Use tener + noun to say a person who is feeling hot or cold.

Tengo mucho calor. I’m really hot.
¿Tienes frío? Are you cold?

This type of “tener” phrase is also used to say you are feeling hungry, (Tengo hambre), thirsty (Tengo sed), along with many others. See the blog, “Useful everyday expressions using Tener”.

The weather

When talking about the weather begin hot or cold, use “hacer” (to do/to make).

Hace calor. It’s hot.
Hace mucho frío. It’s very cold.

Similarly, you use “hacer” to say “It’s sunny” (Hace sol), “It’s windy” (Hace viento) etc.

Exclamations

To make weather exclamations, such as “It’s so hot!” use qué + the appropriate structure.

¡Qué calor hace! How hot it is! / It’s so hot!
¡Qué frío hace! It’s so cold!

Or to say how hot you are:

¡Qué calor tengo! I’m so hot!
¡Qué frío tengo! I’m so cold!

Or to say how hot the soup is:

¡Qué caliente está la sopa! The soup is so hot!