Weather and seasons

Almost everything about the weather in French is said with il fait and a noun, and the rest of this list is the landscape the weather falls on. The last third holds la rivière, and it is worth knowing what it does not mean. English has one word, « river », and never asks where the water goes. French has two and sorts them by the ending: une rivière flows into another watercourse, and un fleuve flows into the sea. So the Seine is un fleuve and the Marne, which runs into it, is une rivière, whatever their sizes. The rule is about destination and not about width, which is why a very large rivière and a modest fleuve can sit in the same sentence. English cannot make the distinction at all without explaining it.