To tell time in Italian, you use the verb essere(to be). When the number of hours is , you would say sono le(they are) + number of hours, for example at seven, you would say: sono le sette(it is seven→ lit. (the hours) are seven). On the other hand, you would use è(it is) when the number of hours are or when using a word like “noon,” so at one, you would say è l’una(it is one→ lit. (the hour) is one), and at noon you would say è mezzogiorno.
Keep in mind this little difference and in no time you’ll learn how to tell time in Italian! In this post we’ll go through everything you need to know about asking the time, telling someone the time, and discussing the time of day in Italian. Let’s have a look!
To ask someone what time it is, in Italian we have two options. You can either say Che ora è? or Che ore sono?(What time is it?). Both options are fine!
To answer Che ora è? / Che ore sono? you can use the 24 hour system (using numbers from 00:00 to 23:59, in which midnight is 00:00) or the 12 hour system (running from 1 a.m. to 12/noon, and then from 1 p.m. to 12/midnight.)
As mentioned before, whether you refer to the 24 or the 12 hour system, to tell time we use the verb essere(to be) either in the third person singular è (it is) or in the third person plural sono(they are) + the definite article le(the), which refers to le ore(the hours), although the noun ore(hours) is left implicit.
Let’s look at some examples on how to talk about hours in punto(sharp/o'clock)!
Use sono le for all the hours of the day:
Sono le nove.
It’s nine.
Sono le undici.
It’s eleven.
Except in the following cases, when we need to use è(it is):
È l’una.
It’s one.
È mezzogiorno.
It’s noon.
È mezzanotte.
It’s midnight.
Note that for l’una(one), you use the la, which becomes l’ because it is in front of a vowel.
Like other European countries, in Italy we use the 24 hour system when referring to official hours like office hours, opening and closing hours, etc.
At the same time, in informal settings, it is way more common to use the 12 hours system by specifying the part of the day — di mattina(in the morning), di pomeriggio(in the afternoon), di sera(in the evening), di notte(at night) — when it is useful to avoid possible confusion.
To tell time in the present, you need the two forms of essere(to be) in the present tense: è(it is) and sono(they are). Of course, if you want to tell time in the past, then you need to use the appropriate past tense.
For instance, imagine you are telling a story that took place at some point in the past:
Erano le quattro del mattino, quando finalmente Michele si svegliò.
It was four in the morning when Michele finally woke up.
For this background information about the time when the action took place, you need essere(to be) in the imperfect tense.
To use the 24 hours system to refer to the hours of the day, review the Italian numbers from 1 to 24:
1:00 → l’una(1 a.m.)
2:00 → le due(2 a.m.)
3:00 → le tre(3 a.m.)
4:00 → le quattro(4 a.m.)
and so on, up to ⇣
11:00 → le undici(11 a.m.)
12:00 → le dodici(12 p.m.)
13:00 → le tredici(1 p.m.)
14:00 → le quattordici(2 p.m.)
15:00 → le quindici(3 p.m.)
16:00 →le sedici(4 p.m.)
and so on, up to ⇣
23:00 → le ventitré(11 p.m.)
24:00 → le ventiquattro(12 a.m.)
To use the 12 hours system to refer to the hours of the day, review numbers from 1 to 12, and add the following expressions when needed:
6:00 → Sono le sei di mattina / del mattino(in the morning)
16:00 → Sono le quattro di pomeriggio / del pomeriggio(in the afternoon)
23:00 → Sono le undici di sera(in the evening)
2:00 → Sono le due di notte(at night)
How do we tell when it is di mattina / pomeriggio / sera / notte?
I’m going to give you some general guidelines, but keep in mind that what I am about to say is not at all set in stone, since it can vary regionally and it changes with seasons! 🙂
di mattino/mattina(in the morning) is from 4:00 a.m. until noon or immediately after (1 p.m. at the latest);
di pomeriggio(in the afternoon) is between 12/1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
di sera(in the evening) starts at least at 6:30 p.m. and ends around 11:00 p.m.
di notte(at night) is from midnight until around 3:30 a.m.
So far we have looked at how to talk about “sharp” hours. Now, let’s move on to adding minutes to the equation.
In Italian we can talk about minutes in two ways:
number of hours
e
and
the exact number of minutes
Sono le 20 (venti) e 18 (diciotto).
It’s 8:18 p.m.
Sono le 17 (diciassette) e 50 (cinquanta).
It’s 5:50 p.m.
To talk about minutes, we need to know numbers from 1 to 59. Here’s a handy table on Italian numbers for quick reference.
We can divide the whole hour into quarters like a pie and refer to minutes using certain expressions:
Refer to the minutes after the current hour like this:
Current hour + …
…e un quarto(a quarter past→ lit. and a quarter)
…e mezzo/mezza(half past→ lit. and a half)
Examples:
Sono le 9:15. → Sono le nove e un quarto di mattina.
It’s nine fifteen a.m.
Sono le 14:30. → Sono le due e mezza di pomeriggio.
It’s two-thirty p.m.
Note that, unlike in English, in Italian you can add minutes to the words mezzogiorno(noon) and mezzanotte(midnight), so that it is perfectly fine to say for instance è mezzogiorno e quindici(literally: it's noon and fifteen), like in the image above.
Refer to the minutes left before the following hour like this:
Next hour + …
…meno un quarto(quarter to→ lit. less a quarter)
…meno + number of minutes up to about 20 → use this like “x minutes to…”
So if it is 10:45 p.m., we can either say…
Sono le undici meno un quarto di sera.
It’s a quarter to eleven.
Sono dieci e quarantacinque di sera.
It’s ten forty-five p.m.
Have a look at this graphic illustrating the expressions discussed above!
Now that we know how to answer the question Che ora è? / Che ore sono?(What time is it?), let’s take a look at what else we need to tell a specific time, such as the time when something happens, like a train departure or the time of an appointment. To do so, we need the help of the Italian prepositions of time.
To ask “what time?” questions and to answer them, Italian uses the preposition a(at).
A che ora ci vediamo domani?
When/what time are we seeing each other tomorrow?
Vediamoci alle 4:30 (quattro e mezza) di pomeriggio.
Let’s meet at 4:30 in the afternoon.
To talk about a specific time, Italian uses the articulated preposition alle (a+le)(at) for all hours of the day, except for all’una(at one), a mezzogiorno(at noon), a mezzanotte(at midnight).
In all’una(at one), the preposition is alla (a+la) since una is singular.
To talk about opening hours and the duration of an activity, Italian uses the articulated prepositions dalle (da+le) and alle (a+le), and the noun ore(hours) is often left implicit. Dalle…. alle… come in pairs as they are the equivalent of “from… to…” in English.
La farmacia è aperta dalle (ore) 8:00 alle (ore) 22:00.
The pharmacy is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Oggi lavoro dalle 9:00 alle 6:00 (di sera.)
Today I work from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 (in the evening.)
Remember to say:
dall’una and all’una
da mezzogiorno and a mezzogiorno
da mezzanotte and a mezzanotte
To indicate a time range, Italian uses the prepositions tra/fra(between) interchangeably paired with the conjunction e(and):
La lezione inizia tra/fra le 10 e le 10:15.
Class starts between 10 and 10:15.
Finally, to talk about an approximate time, use the following expressions that are all the equivalent of the English “around” or “about”:
intorno alle (a+le) ... (ore)
La partita finirà intorno alle 23:00.
The match will finish around 11 p.m.
verso le (ore) ...
La partita finirà intorno alle 23:00.
The match will finish around 11 p.m.
alle (a+le) ... circa
Ci vediamo alle 7 e mezzo circa.
We will meet at about half past seven.
To ask what time it is in Italian, you can either say Che ora è? or Che ore sono?
For official hours, Italy refers to the 24 hours system (to use it, review numbers from 1 to 24!)
For more informal settings, it is common to refer to the 12 hours system (to use it, review numbers from 1 to 12)
To tell time, use the verb essere(to be):
Sono le + hours
but remember:
È l’una(it's one)
È mezzogiorno(It's noon.)
È mezzanotte(It's midnight.)
You can tell minutes just by spelling them out as they appear on an analog watch, or you can use the pie system and say …e un quarto, e mezzo/mezza, meno un quarto, and so on.
Review prepositions of time (especially a(at), da(from)) and their articulated version to set the time for an appointment, to talk about opening and closing hours, and even to refer to time in an approximate way.
Ready for some activities on how to tell time in Italian? 💪 🧠 Click the link!
