Hi Barbara,

"Il faut beau" is apparently the phrase most commonly used to refer to nice weather. Specifically, if you want to say that the sun is shining, you can say "Il fait soleil", "Il y a du soleil" or "Il es ensoleillé". Whether or not "Il fait du soleil" may also be correct I don't really know, at least I haven't heard it said.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Here's a link you might find helpful. Some people apparently don't consider "Il fait soleil" proper French. Talking about the weather in French - il fait + [adjectif]

Hi L, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I talked to a French native speaker and she said that "Il fait soleil" sounded OK. Searching the net it seems that French Canadians tend to use it more liberally than speakers from France.

To be perfectly honest: to my ears "Il fait soleil" sounds strange, too, but it is apparently in use.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Just to correct a typo in my initial post: it should be "Il fait beau" and not "il faut beau".

-- Chris.

Hi Chris,

Il fait beau = It's nice out, The weather is beautiful.  Il fait du soleil et il y a du soleil both mean it's sunny.  My question was why would the test correct answer say "Anthony apporte ses lunettes de soleil au cas où il ferait BEAU.  when the English translation was "Anthony brings his sunglasses in case it's SUNNY? Why beau instead of du soleil? Minor point but interested to know. I'm positive that Il fait DU soleil is correct although maybe not the first choice for it's sunny.

Yes, Barbara, I agree with you. The problem seems to be that there is no 1:1 translation which leaves no room for interpretation as to how to translate it. The most natural way to say "Il fait beau" in English would, for me, be "It's nice out" But that doesn't correspond to the way most frequently used in French (i.e., il fait beau). Neither do any of the other ways to paraphrase it in English.

I understand your frustration that you get penalized for something which isn't even a mistake but I don't know of a good solution either. Do you have a suggestion?

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

:))) In speaking to some native French people they seem to have a low opinion of Canadian French. But that's typical, I'd say. It is similar between Austria and Germany with respect to the German language.

-- Chris.