ILGUR: Italian Language, Grammar and Usage Resource

Here’s some rules and guidelines for telling time in Italian:

1. To ask what time it is, you can say:

   Che ora è?
   Che ore sono?

   Both expressions have the same meaning = What time is it?

   They are interchangeable. The only difference between the two is that one is in the third person singular, and the other is in the third person plural. Either question will get you the time in Italian.

2. To tell time in Italian, use the third person singular or plural of essere. The definite article is used before the hour.

   È is only for:

   • È mezzogiorno.
     It’s noon.

   • È mezzanotte.
     It’s midnight.
   • When it is one o’clock or a variant of one o’clock (such as 1:15pm, 1:30pm, 1:55pm)
     È l’una
     It’s one o’clock.

     È l’una e dieci.
     It’s 1:10.

3. Sono is used in all other instances of telling time:

   Sono le cinque.
   It’s five o’clock.

   Sono le due.
   It’s two o’clock.

4. The definite article is used before the the hour in question, except when it is mezzogiorno or mezzanotte:

   Sono le sette.
   It’s seven o’clock.
   
   Sono le undici.
   It’s eleven o’clock.

   È mezzogiorno.
   It’s noon.

   È mezzanotte.
   It’s midnight.

5. To express the time of day, the following expressions may prove helpful:

   di mattina = AM (til 12pm)

   del pomeriggio = PM (from 12PM to 5PM)

   di sera = PM (from 5pm to midnight)

   di notte = from midnight to the early morning hour

   Sono le due di notte.
   It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. (2:00 AM)

   Sono le nove di mattina.
   It’s 9 o’clock in the morning. (9:00 AM)

   È l’una del pomeriggio.
   It’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon. (1:00 PM)

6. To say, (At) what time…in Italian, use the following:

   A che ora…?

   A che ora vai al cinema?
   At what time are you going to the cinema?

   A che ora finisce il dramma?
   At what times does the play finish?

7. To say that you are doing some at a particular time, use the preposition alle + time (with the exception of l’una, mezzogiorno and mezzanotte):

   Vado a scuola alle nove di mattina.
   I go to school at 9 o’clock in the morning.

   Il lavoro finisce alle cinque del pomeriggio.
   Work ends at 5 o’clock PM.

   La mia pausa comincia all’una del pomeriggio.
   My break starts at 1 o’clock PM.

   Vado a letto a mezzanotte.
   I go to bed at midnight.

   I turni di lavoro cambiano a mezzogiorno.
   The shifts change at noon.

8. Telling time when it includes parts of the hour can be tricky. To tell the time when it is 30 minutes or less past the hour, use the following construction:

   Sono le cinque e mezzo.
   It is 5:30.*

   Sono le ccinque e quarto.
   It is 5:15.**

   Sono le cinque e nove.
   It’s 5:09.

   Sono le cinque e ventidue.
   It’s 5:22.

9. To tell the time when it is 30 minutes or more past the hour, the method is to subtract from the next hour:

   the next hour + meno + minutes left until the next hour

   To say that it is 11:50 AM, you would say that it is:

   È mezzogiorno meno dieci.
   
   Literally, it is 12:00 minus 10 minutes. In English, we would say: It is ten minutes until noon.

   Here are some more examples:

   8:42 AM = Sono le nove meno diciotto.
   3:52 PM = Sono le quattro meno otto.
   7:32 PM = Sono le otte meno ventotto.
   4:45 PM = Sono le cinque meno quarto.**

^*Often, mezzo replaces trenta to say ’30′ when telling time, although it is acceptable to say: Sono le cinque e trenta.
^**Often, quarto replaces quindici to say ’15′ when telling time, although it is acceptable to say: Sono le cinque e quindici.

Ever seen the centuries in Italian expressed as duecento or quattrocento? Ever wonder what the Italians mean when they talk about i narratori del ’900? This chart explains all:

This lesson/post will feature words in Italian related to the calendar.

1. The months (i mesi)

   gennaio = January
   febbraio = February
   marzo = March
   aprile = April
   maggio = May
   giugno = June
   luglio = July
   agosto = August
   settembre = September
   ottobre = October
   novembre = November
   dicembre = December

• Remember, in Italian the months of the year are not capitalized.
• Months take a definite article only when modified.
• To say ‘in’ + particular month, use a or in. The preposition is articulated only when modified.
• To say what day it is, (i.e. The war started on the 5th of November) use:

  il + cardinal number + month + year

  il 5 (cinque) novembre 1945
  Only exception is when it is the first day of the month, when the ordinal number is used:
  
  December 1st, 1st of December = il primo dicembre
  

• To ask what day it is, use the following expression:

  Quanti ne abbiamo oggi?
  Che data è oggi?
  Qual è la data di oggi?
  Here are some common responses:

  Ne abbiamo sei. (Today is the sixth)
  Oggi è il 3 maggio 1997.

Writing the year in Italian (Scrivere l’anno in italiano)

The year in Italian is written out, unlike in English where we break it up into two parts.
In English, for the year 1950, we say “nineteen-fifty”, whereas in Italian, they would say “one thousand nine hundred fifty”.

Per esempio:

1950 = Millenovecentocinquanta
2006 = Duemilasei

The date, in Italian, is written as “il + number of the day + month + year”.

Today’s date, August 19, 2006 would be written in Italian as:

il 19 agosto 2006

3. Days of the week (I giorno della settimana)
You can read about the days of the week by clicking here.

4. Seasons (Le stagioni)
la primavera = spring
l’estate = summer (f.)
l’autunno = autumn, fall
l’inverno = winter

Useful expression when talking about the seasons:

Che stagione è? = What season is it?
In che stagione siamo = In what season are we?

Remember that the names of the season are not capitalized in Italian.

Days of the Week | Giorni della settimana

Below are some important points of grammar to remember when using the days of the week:

- The days of the week in Italian are masculine except for la domenica | Sunday

- The days of the week in Italian are never capitalized

- Preposition do not precede the days of the week:

Vado al cinema lunedì.
I’m going to the movies on Monday.

- When a day of the week is preceded by the definite article (il or la), it signifies a habitual action:

La domanica andiamo in chiesa.
On Sundays we go to Church.
We go to church every Sunday.

- To ask what day of the week:

Che giorno è oggi?
What day is today? or What day is it?

Oggi è sabato.
Today is Saturday.

*NB: the change in the stress for both sabato and domenica; domenica is the only day of the week that is feminine.

The preposition, di, is used in many time expressions:

di pomeriggio, del pomeriggio in the afternoon
di sera in the evening
di notte at night
di mattino (often, del mattino), di mattina in the morning
di buon’ora early
di giorno in the daytime
d’inverno in the winter
d’estate in the summer
d’autunno in the fall
di primavera in the spring

Below are some sample sentences using some of the expressions used above:

• Lei lavora durante la settimana di notte.
  She works during the week at night.
• Di notte andiamo al cinema.
  At night we are going to the movies.
• Devo svegliarmi di buon’ora per prendere il treno.
  I have to wake up early in order to take the train.
• D’estate mia sorella va al campo.
  In the summer my sister goes to camp.