Learn how to tell time in Italian
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How do you ask for the time in Italian? |
| Ofelia: And how do you tell the time? |
| Michael: At ItalianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha Lee, a highschool student, doesn't want to be late for her next class and asks her classmate |
| "What time is it?" |
| Sasha Lee: Che ore sono? |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Che ore sono? |
| Martina Moretti: Sono le tre e un quarto. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Che ore sono? |
| Michael: "What time is it?" |
| Martina Moretti: Sono le tre e un quarto. |
| Michael: "It's a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: The topic of this lesson is time. We will talk about how to ask for the time, as well as how to tell the time in Italian. |
| In Italian, "What time is it?" is |
| Ofelia: Che ore sono? |
| Michael: The first word, |
| Ofelia: che, |
| Michael: means "what." This is followed by |
| Ofelia: ore, |
| Michael: which in English is "hours." Then, you have |
| Ofelia: sono, |
| Michael: which literally means "they are." Let's practice saying this. Repeat after the native speaker: |
| Ofelia: [NORMAL] Che ore sono? [SLOWLY] Che ore sono? |
| [PAUSE 4 SECS] |
| Michael: This means "What time is it?" However, there is also another expression with the same meaning, but, in a different form, using the singular version: |
| Ofelia: [NORMAL] Che ora è? [SLOWLY] Che ora è? |
| [PAUSE 4 SECS] |
| Michael: Did you notice that the native speaker used the singular for "hours," |
| Ofelia: ora, |
| Michael: and the verb also changed to singular? If you're wondering which version of asking the time is more correct, the answer is: both. You can use either and they mean the same thing. |
| Ofelia: Che ora è? |
| Michael: is literally, "What is the hour?" and |
| Ofelia: Che ore sono? |
| Michael: is literally, "What are the hours?" |
| Michael: So, next, we should consider how to answer this question. This will also clarify why the plural form is used in the question. |
| Let's see an example. If the time is two o'clock, you can say: |
| Ofelia: Sono le due. |
| Michael: And if it's eleven o'clock, you can simply say: |
| Ofelia: Sono le undici. |
| Michael: As you can see, when referring to the hours, numbers are preceded by the feminine plural article |
| Ofelia: le |
| Michael: The only exception is for 1:00, which is singular and it becomes |
| Ofelia: l'una [SLOW] l'una |
| Michael: Ok, now let's hear what to say when the time has minutes, or |
| Ofelia: minuti |
| Michael: In Italian, the easy way is to say: |
| Ofelia: sono le |
| Michael: meaning "it is', then the number for "hours," followed by the conjunction |
| Ofelia: e. |
| Michael: Next, the number for "minutes" follows. For example: |
| Ofelia: Sono le cinque e venti, |
| Michael: which means "It's five twenty." Let's say it again with the native speaker: |
| Ofelia: [NORMAL] Sono le cinque e venti. [SLOWLY] Sono le cinque e venti. |
| [PAUSE 4 SECS] |
| Michael: Pretty easy, right? Next, let's look at what to say when the time is a quarter to |
| the hour, or a quarter past the hour. |
| To do this, we'll take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Sasha Lee asks, "What time is it?" |
| Ofelia as Sasha Lee: Che ore sono? |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at the response, which is our second sentence. "It's a quarter past three." |
| Ofelia as Martina Moretti: Sono le tre e un quarto. |
| Michael: "Quarter" in Italian is |
| Ofelia: quarto |
| Michael: So, "It's quarter past three." in Italian is |
| Ofelia: sono le tre e un quarto. |
| Michael: Now, you try it. Repeat after the native speaker: |
| Ofelia: [NORMAL] Sono le tre e un quarto. [SLOWLY] Sono le tre e un quarto. |
| [PAUSE 4 SECS] |
| Michael: Similarly to "a quarter," you can also use the word meaning "half an hour," which is |
| Ofelia: mezza or mezzo |
| Michael: So, "It's half past three." in Italian is |
| Ofelia: sono le tre e mezza or sono le tre e mezzo |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: To summarize, in this lesson, we learned how to ask for the time and how to tell the time in Italian. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Of course, there are some other phrases Italians use to tell the time, so it would be useful to know these too. For instance, "a quarter" can be used in a different way from what you just learned. So, if the time is 8:45, you can say: |
| Ofelia: Sono le nove meno un quarto. |
| Michael: Literally, this means "it's nine less a quarter," but translates as "It's a quarter to nine." Also, when you need to say "midday" or "noon," you might use |
| Ofelia: mezzogiorno. |
| Michael: Literally, this means "half day." If it's midnight, you can use the word |
| Ofelia: mezzanotte, |
| Michael: which translates as "half night." These two words mean "midday" and "midnight." It's important to remember that if you answer with |
| Ofelia: mezzogiorno |
| Michael: or |
| Ofelia: mezzanotte, |
| Michael: the right verb to use is |
| Ofelia: è |
| Michael: In other words, it sounds like this: |
| Ofelia: è mezzogiorno, è mezzanotte. |
| Michael: The only other time you will use the singular verb |
| Ofelia: è |
| Michael: is to say "It's one." |
| Ofelia: è l'una. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Ofelia: A presto! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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