How to tell the time in Italian

If we want to ask the time in Italian, we can make the questions “Che ora è?” or “Che ore sono?” that translate 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) and the minutes elapsed or the coming hour minus the number of minutes.

Half can be translated with mezzo/mezza or trenta (thirty). To indicate fifteen minutes you can use un quarto (a quarter) or quindici (fifteen).