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If
we want to ask the time in Italian, we can make the question: “Che
ora è?”
or “Che
ore sono?”
that translates the English question “What
time is it?”.
If we want to be more polite, we can use the formal questions:
- Potrebbe dirmi che ore sono, per favore?
- Scusi, sa che ore sono?
To
answer to these questions we use the verb essere at the third person plural (sono)
followed by the plural article LE
and the time.
Remember
also that in Italy we consider 24 hours and not 12 hours clock. So, 1 pm is 13:00, 4 pm is 16:00, 7 pm is 19:00. This
is very common especially in train schedules, shops, restaurants and
office. But when we talk with friends or in other informal
situations, often we use the numbers from 1 to 12 to tell the time.
Examples:
- Sono le undici = It’s 11 am
- Sono le otto = It's 8 am
- Sono le venti = It's 8 pm
Of
course in a more informal answer you can tell only the time:
- Le nove (9 am)
- Le diciannove (7 pm)
For
one o'clock, noon and midnight we use the verb essere at the third person singular (è)
and for noon
and midnight
we don't use the article before the time.
- È l'una = It's one o'clock
- È mezzogiorno = It's noon / midday
- È mezzanotte = It's midnight
To
express the fractions of an hour we use the time followed by the
conjunction “e”
and the minutes elapsed or the coming hour minus (meno)
the number of minutes.
Half
can be translated with mezzo/mezza or trenta (thirty).
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