{"id":9165,"date":"2023-02-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/?p=9165"},"modified":"2023-11-20T10:41:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T10:41:08","slug":"how-to-tell-the-time-in-italian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/how-to-tell-the-time-in-italian\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Tell the Time in Italian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0203_timeInItalianBlog-1024x683.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0203_timeInItalianBlog-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0203_timeInItalianBlog-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0203_timeInItalianBlog-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0203_timeInItalianBlog.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Want to learn to tell the time in Italian? Being able to tell the time in any language is important, and it&#8217;s really not as difficult as it might first appear. Read our blog post and, by the end of it, you&#8217;ll be telling the time like a pro!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Telling the time in&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/italian\" target=\"_blank\">Italian<\/a>&nbsp;is pretty straight forward. Really, to be able to say&nbsp;<em>any<\/em>&nbsp;time, you only need to know two things \u2013 a form of the verb&nbsp;<em>essere<\/em>&nbsp;(to be) and the numbers 1-59.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, we&#8217;ve got a little more for you than that! In this post, you&#8217;ll also learn how to say half past and quarter past, how to say different times of the day, and also some time words that will be useful in a bunch of different situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"0-the-verb-essere-\">The verb &#8211;&nbsp;<em>essere<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To tell the time, you only actually need two forms of the verb&nbsp;<em>essere<\/em>&nbsp;\u2013 the third person singular (\u00e8 &#8211; he\/she\/it is) and third person plural (sono &#8211; they are). You&#8217;ll also be using&nbsp;<em>sono<\/em>&nbsp;much more often than&nbsp;<em>\u00e8<\/em>, as&nbsp;<em>\u00e8<\/em>&nbsp;is only used when you&#8217;re referring to one o&#8217;clock, midnight, and midday because they&#8217;re all singular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>\u00c8 l&#8217;una. &#8211; It is one o&#8217;clock.<\/li><li>\u00c8 mezzogiorno. &#8211; It is midday\/noon.<\/li><li>\u00c8 mezzanotte. &#8211; It is midnight.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sono<\/em>&nbsp;is used to tell every other time of the day. This is a very simple structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sono<\/em>&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>le<\/em>&nbsp;+ hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Sono le due. &#8211; It is two o&#8217;clock. It is 02:00.<\/li><li>Sono le quattro. &#8211; It is four o&#8217;clock. It is 04:00.<\/li><li>Sono le nove. &#8211; It is nine o&#8217;clock. It is 09:00.<\/li><li>Sono le quindici. &#8211; It is three o&#8217;clock (in the afternoon). It is 15:00.<\/li><li>Sono le ventidue. &#8211; It is ten o&#8217;clock (at night). It is 22:00.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"1-the-numbers-1-59\">The numbers 1-59<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, so far you&#8217;ve only learnt how to say &#8216;it is &#8230; o&#8217;clock&#8217;. What about when you want to refer to minutes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s where the numbers 1-59 come into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take your initial structure (<em>sono<\/em>&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>le<\/em>&nbsp;+ hour) and then add&nbsp;<em>e<\/em>&nbsp;(and) and the number of minutes to the end of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Sono le diciotto e trentacinque. &#8211; It is six thirty-five (in the evening). It is 18:35.<\/li><li>Sono le tre e dieci. &#8211; It is ten past three (in the morning). It is 03:10.<\/li><li>Sono le undici e venti. &#8211; It is twenty past eleven (in the morning). It is 11:20.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to say it&#8217;s so many minutes&nbsp;<em>to<\/em>&nbsp;something? Well, then you&#8217;ll need&nbsp;<em>meno<\/em>&nbsp;(minus):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Sono le nove meno cinque. &#8211; It is five to nine (in the morning). It is 08:55.<\/li><li>Sono le ventidue meno dieci. &#8211; It is ten to ten (in the evening). It is 21:50.<\/li><li>Sono le sei meno venti. &#8211; It is twenty to six (in the morning). It is 05:40.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you already know your Italian numbers, then you might have noticed something about the examples we&#8217;re using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally, Italy uses a 24-hour clock, which means for the hours, you&#8217;ll hear the numbers from 1-23. However, this is considered a bit formal in conversation, so most often you&#8217;ll use and hear the 12-hour clock when you&#8217;re among friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, this sometimes means you&#8217;ll have to define&nbsp;<em>what<\/em>&nbsp;time of day you&#8217;re talking about&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"2-how-to-say-times-of-the-day\">How to say times of the day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If it&#8217;s not clear what time you&#8217;re talking about using the 12-hour clock, then you might have to clarify by saying the time of day. After all, you wouldn&#8217;t want to show up at eight in the morning and then find out you weren&#8217;t supposed to be there until eight at night!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can modify any of the times you say with the following words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>di mattina &#8211; in the morning<\/li><li>del pomeriggio &#8211; in the afternoon<\/li><li>di sera &#8211; in the evening<\/li><li>di notte &#8211; in the night<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if you need to make it clear:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Sono le sei meno venti <strong>di mattina<\/strong>. &#8211; It is twenty to six in the morning. It is 05:40.<\/li><li>Sono le otto e venti <strong>di sera<\/strong>. &#8211; It is twenty past eight in the evening. It is 20:20.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"3-how-to-say-half-past-quarter-past-etc\">How to say half past, quarter past, etc.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like in English, Italian has specific phrases that translate to &#8216;half past&#8217;, &#8216;quarter past&#8217; and &#8216;quarter to&#8217;. These are used more often than adding the minutes to the end of the phrase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Sono le quattordici <strong>e mezza<\/strong>. &#8211; It is half past two (in the afternoon). It is 14:30.<\/li><li>Sono le dieci <strong>e un quarto<\/strong>. &#8211; It is quarter past ten (in the morning). It is 10:15.<\/li><li>Sono le tredici <strong>meno un quarto<\/strong>. &#8211; It is quarter to one (in the afternoon). It is 12:45.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"4-some-extra-useful-words\">Some extra useful words<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there are plenty of other time-related words and phrases that might come in handy as you learn Italian. We&#8217;ve collected some of them for you below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Italian<\/th><th>English<\/th><th>Notes<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Che ora \u00e8?<\/td><td>What time is it?<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Che ora sono?<\/td><td>What time is it?<\/td><td>You can use both forms of &#8216;che ora \u00e8\/sono&#8217; interchangeably.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Quando?<\/td><td>When?<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>ora<\/td><td>hour<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>minuto<\/td><td>minute<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>secondo<\/td><td>second<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>orologio<\/td><td>clock<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>a \/ alle<\/td><td>at<\/td><td>A mezzanotte &#8211; at midnight; all&#8217;una &#8211; at one o&#8217;clock; alle due &#8211; at two o&#8217;clock<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>in punto<\/td><td>on the dot<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>adesso<\/td><td>now<\/td><td>Che ore sono adesso? &#8211; What time is it now?<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>all&#8217;alba<\/td><td>at dawn<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>al tramonto<\/td><td>at sunset<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>al momento<\/td><td>at the moment<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>nel frattempo<\/td><td>in the meantime<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>prima<\/td><td>before<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>dopo<\/td><td>after<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>presto<\/td><td>early, soon<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>tardi<\/td><td>late<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>tra un po&#8217;<\/td><td>in a while<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>per molto tempo<\/td><td>for a long time<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>per poco tempo<\/td><td>for a short time<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>sempre<\/td><td>always<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>mai<\/td><td>never<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>il prima possibile<\/td><td>as soon as possible<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>in qualsiasi momento<\/td><td>at any time<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>di tanto in tanto<\/td><td>from time to time<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We hope this post has helped you feel more confident about telling the time in Italian! If you&#8217;re looking for more help, then why not give our app a try? The &#8216;Time&#8217; topic contains almost 50 different time phrases, and each one comes with native speaker audio.&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/uta.lk\/app\" target=\"_blank\">Give it a go today!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fino alla prossima volta! (Until next time!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to learn to tell the time in Italian? Being able to tell the time in any language is important, and it&#8217;s really not as difficult as it might first appear. Read our blog post and, by the end of it, you&#8217;ll be telling the time like a pro! Telling the time in&nbsp;Italian&nbsp;is pretty straight &#8230; <a title=\"How to Tell the Time in Italian\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/how-to-tell-the-time-in-italian\/\" aria-label=\"More on How to Tell the Time in Italian\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":9461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[231],"tags":[333],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9462,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions\/9462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}