It is foggy. It is sunny

Question

Why does the lesson say to use Hay with “It is foggy” but Está with “It is sunny”? I would think both would use Está

Also the lesson says to use Hay when it is followed by a noun, but Foggy is an adjective.

Thanks for your help!

Accepted Answer

Hola Anne
Yes, as Gabor said, the way we use these specific sentences to talk about the weather in Spanish is different to how they are used in English. As "there is fog" sounds very odd in English, we need to use the most natural translation: "it is foggy".
When we say hay is followed by a noun, we mean a noun in Spanish (not in English).
Hay niebla (niebla = fog = a noun)
Saludos
Inma

Answer

It may not make sense when compared to your own language but these are the rules in spanish and that's what makes language learning so interesting!!

Answer

Hi! As the above answer doesn't seem helpful because it doesn't really address your question, I will add the following:

"Hay niebla" literally means "there is fog". So hay ("there is") is indeed followed by a noun. But in English we wouldn't say "there is fog" but rather "it is foggy". So they used a more natural way to put it in English. Hay niebla is a common way to say that it is foggy in Spanish.

I checked on a spanish dictionary website, and you can also say "En Londres no hay niebla" if you want to say "there is no fog in London" (though it might be hard to believe lol). Hope that helps.