Feeling the Heat in la Canicule

As France is experiencing its hottest summer ever, la canicule (the heat wave) is the word on everyone’s lips. Many people wish they had air conditioning at home instead of having to take refuge in cooler public spaces. In this lesson, we'll find out what the French have to say about this hot weather and how they are coping.

La canicule (the heatwave), which started in early June 2026, is wreaking havoc on people’s health:

L'intense canicule qui frappe la France depuis une semaine... impacte directement notre santé et notre sommeil.

The intense heat wave that has been hitting France for a week... directly impacts our health and our sleep.

Captions 1, 4, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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As people complain bitterly about the heat, you will hear the very common expression avoir chaud (to be hot), as in j’ai chaud (I'm hot; literally, "I have heat"). This speaker adds an adverb, tellement chaud (so hot), for good measure:

J'ai tellement chaud.

I'm so hot.

Caption 2, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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Further along in the video, another person complains about being “too hot,” using the adverb trop:

J'ai trop, trop chaud.

I'm way too hot.

Caption 38, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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Both speakers used the verb avoir (to have) and said j’ai chaud (I’m hot)—NOT je suis chaud, which carries a sexual connotation in colloquial French.

However, it is safe to use être (to be) in the expression c’est chaud (it’s hot) to describe anything besides the temperature. A burning hot coal, for example:

Ouille là, c'est chaud, là!

Ouch, that's hot, there!

Caption 2, Il était une fois: Les Amériques 1. Les premiers Américains - Part 5

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On a side note, c’est chaud can also be used to describe a “heated situation,” as in “a bad situation,” in colloquial French. 

La guerre de Syrie et tout ça, c'est... Bon, c'est... c'est chaud.

The war in Syria and all that, it's... Well, it's... it's hot [bad].

Caption 46, Micro-Trottoirs Macron, fais pas l'autruche !

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For additional meanings of c’est chaud, click here.

But you can't use c'est chaud when talking about the weather. You have to use a different impersonal expression, il fait chaud:

Je pense que vous l'avez remarqué: il fait chaud !

I think you've noticed it: it's hot!

Caption 1, Le Huffington Post Canicule ou vague de chaleur, comment faire la différence ?

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You can also use the impersonal il fait to talk about the specific temperature. Just say il fait + X degrés (make sure to use Celsius, not Fahrenheit!):

Il fait quarante degrés.

It's forty degrees.

Caption 6, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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As you may have noticed in all the expressions above, chaud (hot) never changes as it works as an adverb. However, when used as an adjective, chaud has to agree in gender and number, as in la journée la plus chaude (the hottest day):

Et ce mercredi vingt-quatre juin est devenu la journée la plus chaude jamais enregistrée dans le pays,

And this Wednesday, June twenty-fourth became the hottest day ever recorded in the country,

Captions 24-25, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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The noun form of chaud/chaude is la chaleur (the heat):

En fait, cette chaleur, mais, euh... en fait c'est la canicule, hein ?

In fact, this heat, but, uh... in fact, it's a heat wave, huh?

Captions 4-5, Sophie et Patrice La chaleur

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Speaking of la chaleur (the heat), heat waves are a relatively new phenomenon in Europe, so most French homes n'ont pas de clim (don't have AC) yet. La clim (AC) is short for la climatisation (air conditioning).

Et évidemment dans nos appartements on n'a pas la clim.

And obviously in our apartments we don't have AC.

Captions 31-32, Français avec Nelly The Most Taboo Question in France - Part 1

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One solution is to spend the night in the comfort of un hôtel climatisé (an air-conditioned hotel):

Réserver une chambre d'hôtel climatisée pour passer la nuit.

Book an air-conditioned hotel room to spend the night.

Captions 88-89, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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Alternatively, there is a cheaper way to cool off—taking refuge in air-conditioned shopping malls:

C'est rafraîchissant, oui.

It's refreshing, yes.

Caption 58, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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It may be crowded, but it's much better than étouffer (suffocating) at home…

J'ai commencé à sentir que j'étouffais un peu et...

I started to feel like I was suffocating a bit and...

Caption 68, Le Parisien Canicule : fatigue et sautes d'humeur

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Now that you've acquired some new vocabulary and mastered the differences between il fait chaud (it's hot out), j'ai chaud (I'm hot), and c'est chaud (something is hot), you are all set to discuss the weather in French. Stay cool and thank you for reading!