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Leggere l’ora
Knowing how to tell time in Italian is essential for traveling, meeting up with friends, making appointments, and getting to work or school on time. Once you learn these formulas, you’ll never have an excuse to be late again!
Italian time
There are three Italian translations for "time," each with a different meaning.
| l’ora | time as in telling time |
| Che ora è? | What time is it? |
| il tempo | time as in a period of time |
| Ho passato un po’ di tempo qui. | I spent some time here. |
| la volta | time as in an instance |
| L’ho fatto una volta. | I did it one time. |
Only ora is needed for this lesson, and only when asking what time it is.
Italian numbers
The foundation of telling time is knowing the Italian numbers 1 through 24. Why not just 12? In Italian, time is usually based on the 24-hour clock, like military time. Instead of 1 to 11 a.m., followed by 12 to 11 p.m., the clock continues counting up from 12, so that 1 p.m. is 13, 2 p.m. is 14, all the way up to 24.
Midnight itself can be stated as mezzanotte, 24.00, or 0.00, but one minute later, 24 disappears: 0.01, 0.02, etc.
You absolutely need to be able to understand the 24-hour clock, and it’s better to use it when speaking about time. But in a pinch you can get by with these phrases instead:
- del mattino / di mattina – literally, "of the morning," equivalent to a.m.
- del pomeriggio – "of the afternoon" (1 to 5 p.m.)
- di sera – "of the evening" (6 to 11 p.m.)
- di notte – "of the night" (midnight to 3 a.m.)
Telling time in Italian
To ask "What time is it?" you need the verb essere (to be). It can be in the third person singular or plural, to match ora (singular) or ore (plural). Both of these questions are equally correct:
- Che ora è?
- Che ore sono?
When answering the question, however, you can use the singular conjugation only for one o’clock, noon, and midnight:
| It’s one o’clock | È l’una. | 1.00 |
| It’s noon | È mezzogiorno. | 12.00 |
| It’s midnight | È mezzanotte. | 0.00 |
For two o’clock and up, the verb has to be plural, as does the definite article:
| It’s two o’clock | Sono le due. | 2.00 |
| It’s 3:15 | Sono le tre e un quarto. Sono le tre e quindici. |
3.15 |
| It’s 4:30 | Sono le quattro e mezzo / mezza.* | 4.30 |
| It’s 4:45 | Sono le quattro e quarantacinque. Sono le cinque meno un quarto. |
4.45 |
| It’s 5:10 | Sono le cinque e dieci. | 5.10 |
| It’s 6:50 | Sono le sei e cinquanta. Sono le sette meno dieci. |
6.50 |
| It’s 7:20 | Sono le sette e venti. | 7.20 |
| It’s 8:40 | Sono le otto e quaranta. Sono le nove meno venti. |
8.40 |
| It’s 8 a.m. | Sono le otto (del mattino / di mattina) | 8.00 |
| It’s 5 p.m. | Sono le diciasette. | 17.00 |
| It’s 8 p.m. | Sono le venti. | 20.00 |
* Mezzo and mezza, meaning "half," are equally correct here.
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Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site. Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.
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