Mastering Time in Italian: Your Complete Guide | Italia Like A Local

When planning a trip to Italy, it’s crucial to stay organized and keep track of time to ensure you don’t miss any important events.

You need to be aware of train arrival times, hotel check-in schedules, and museum exhibition openings—essentially, understanding time management is key to a smooth journey.

Whether you’re heading to Italy soon or just want to expand your language skills, I’ll provide a simple guide on how to tell time in Italian.

Before we delve into how to ask for the time in Italian, let’s start with some essential language tips that I will revisit in the following section.

If you look up the word “time” in an Italian dictionary, you’ll discover that it has multiple translations.

The first term is tempo.

This refers to time in a general or abstract sense.

For instance, to say “How time flies,” you would say Come vola il tempo.

To express “Time is on our side,” you would say Il tempo è dalla nostra.

It can also denote a period of time, like:

Molto tempo fa for “a long time ago,”

Poco tempo dopo for “a short time after,”

or per un po’ di tempo for “for a time.”

So, tempo carries a broad meaning of time.

However, there’s another specific word used when asking for the exact time of day: orario.

This term is derived from ora, meaning hour.

It refers to specific timings or schedules.

For example, to say “Let’s arrange a time to meet,” you would say: Decidiamo l’orario in cui incontrarci.

While traveling in Italy, especially at train stations or airports, you will see orario schedules everywhere.

Look for signs like orario dei treni, meaning train timetable, or orario dei voli for flight schedules.

In summary, orario refers to scheduled times, while tempo conveys the broader concept of time passing.

Are you following along so far? I just want to ensure you’re familiar with the terminology before we move on to actually asking for the time when you’re in Italy.

How to Ask “What Time Is It?” in Italian

Now, let’s get to the part you’ve been eager to learn—how to ask “What time is it?” in Italian!

Here’s the interesting part: you don’t even need to use the word for “time” at all.

Instead, you can simply use ora, which means hour.

You can use ora in the singular form or ore in the plural form.

To ask, “What time is it?,” you would say:

“Che ora è?” or “Che ore sono?”—literally translating to “What hour is it?” or “What hours are they?”

The crucial part is using the verb “essere”—to be—in either the singular form “è” or the plural “sono.”

Here are some other ways to inquire:

Did you catch all that?

If you want to practice, try saying some of those out loud.

Whenever you’re ready, we can move on to actually telling the time once someone provides you with an answer.

Asking for the time is half the battle when navigating Italy!

How to Tell Time in Italian

Now that you know how to ask for the time in Italian, let’s explore how to actually tell the time when someone asks you.

The basic structure is:

“Sono le …” followed by the hour.

For example:

“Sono le quattordici (14)” to say “It’s 2 o’clock,”

“Sono le due del pomeriggio” means “It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon,”

Sono le nove translates to 9 o’clock, and so on.

However, there is one exception for 1 o’clock—for this, you would say “È l’una.”

If you need to specify the time something is happening, use the phrase “alle” before the hour.

For instance, “A che ora parte il treno? Il treno parte alle quindici (15)” means “What time does the train leave? The train leaves at 3 pm.”

But remember, instead of saying “alle una,” you’ll say “all’una.”

For example, “All’una parto per Milano” means “At 1 o’clock I leave for Milan.”

The reason behind this distinction is that when referring to “una” for the hour 1, it pertains to the feminine noun “ora,” not the numeral “uno.”

All other numbers maintain their masculine form.

Is that clear?

No worries if it takes a bit of practice.

Feel free to share some sample times in the comments below, and I’ll confirm if you have the correct phrasing.

This knowledge is crucial to ensure you don’t miss any trains or appointments while traveling in Italy!

How to Express Half Past, Quarter Past, and Quarter To

You know how in English we often use expressions like “half past” or “quarter to” when telling time? Well, Italian speakers do the same!

Here are some key phrases to remember:

“Un quarto” for a quarter,

“Mezza” for half an hour (literally mezz’ora),

and “Tre quarti” for three quarters of an hour (45 minutes).

To use these expressions, the formula is:

“Sono le” + the hour number + “e” (meaning “and”) + the relevant fraction phrase.

For example:

“Sono le dieci e mezza” = It’s half past 10,

“Sono le otto e un quarto” = It’s a quarter past 8,

and “Sono le sei e tre quarti” = It’s a quarter to 7.

For the last example, to say “a quarter to” the next hour, you could also phrase it as:

“Manca un quarto alle sette” = There’s a quarter missing until 7,

or “Sono le sette meno un quarto” = It’s 7 minus a quarter.

Got it?

Using these fraction phrases helps you sound more natural compared to always stating the exact hour.

Though both approaches are perfectly acceptable.

It’s simply about getting accustomed to the everyday conversation style.

Telling the Time in Italian with the Exact Hour and Minutes

Once you grasp the basic formula for telling time, expressing the exact hour and minutes in Italian is quite simple.

All you need to do is say:

“Sono le,” followed by the hour number, “e” (which means “and”), and then add the minutes.

For example, if it’s 11:05, you would say:

“Sono le undici e zero cinque” – “It’s 11 and 05.” Easy, right?

For 20:34, you’d say:

“Sono le venti e trentaquattro” – “It’s 20:34 (8:34 pm),”

and for 12:40, you would say:

“Sono le dodici e quaranta” – “It’s 12:40.”

You can even add specificity by including “minuto” (for one minute) or “minuti” (for multiple minutes).

For instance:

“È l’una e venti minuti” translates to “It’s one and twenty minutes, (1:20),”

and “Sono le otto e un minuto” means “It’s eight and one minute (8:01).”

Just remember, for 1 o’clock, you say:

“È l’una” instead of “Sono le 1”—that’s a unique exception.

Other than that quirk, telling the precise time in Italian is straightforward.

Once you master the “It’s…and…” structure, you’ll find it becomes second nature.

No need to complicate it as we sometimes do in English; we keep it refreshingly simple here!

Listen to the podcast episode!

How Phrasing Changes After 40 Minutes

There’s one more quirk to keep in mind when telling time in Italian.

Up until about 40 minutes past the hour, you can stick with the basic structure we’ve covered so far.

You know, saying “It’s…” or “Sono le,” followed by the hour number, “e” (meaning “and”), and the minutes directly.

It’s straightforward until you reach the 40-minute mark.

For example:

– 8:15 would be “Sono le otto e un quarto” (It’s a quarter past 8).

– 8:25 would be “Sono le otto e venticinque” (It’s 25 past 8).

– 8:35 would be “Sono le otto e trentacinque” (It’s 35 past 8).

However, once you creep toward the next hour, particularly around 40 minutes or later, the phrasing changes slightly.

We become a bit more descriptive at that point, similar to English.

Instead of saying the hour plus the minutes, you will say the minutes until the next hour.

For example:

• 8:40 would be “Sono le nove meno venti”—literally, “It’s 9 minus 20 minutes” (It’s 20 to 9).
• 8:45 would be “Sono le nove meno un quarto” meaning “It’s 9 minus a quarter” (It’s a quarter to 9).
• 8:50 would be “Sono le nove meno dieci” meaning “It’s 9 minus 10” (It’s ten to 9).
• 8:55 would be “Sono le nove meno cinque” meaning “It’s 9 minus 5” (It’s five to 9).

You may also hear the direct English-style phrasing for these times:

For 8:40, you might say “Mancano venti alle nove” or simply “Venti alle nove,” which translates to “It’s twenty to nine.”

The same applies to the other times:

For 8:45, you would say “Manca un quarto alle nove” or “Un quarto alle nove.”

For 8:50, it would be “Mancano dieci minuti alle nove” or simply “Dieci alle nove.”

So just be mindful of the minute count as you approach the next hour.

When you hit that 40-45 minute range, be ready to modify how you express the time in Italian.

For the earlier portion of the hour, you can use the “It’s…and…” formula we’ve discussed. Then, once you reach the later minutes, you’ll switch to phrasing it like “There’s this much time left until…”

It’s as simple as that!

Until next time, ciao e alla prossima!