Che ora è? Che ore sono? : Telling Time in Italian
You have a flight at 15.00 and you have to get to the bank before it closes at 13.00. Telling time in Italian differs from telling time in English. Italians use military time to track the hours of the day, and they use a period where a colon would be used in English. It can be tricky, but the following guide will save you from missing your important appointments!
The questions Che ora è? and Che ore sono? both mean “What time is it?” and can be used interchangeably.
What time is it? |
Che ora è? keh OHR-ah EH |
What time is it? |
Che ore sono? keh OHR-eh SOH-noh |
It's 8:30. |
Sono le otto e trenta. soh-noh leh OHT-toh eh TREHN-tah |
The expression è l'… is used to express all times using the 1:00 hour.
It's 1:00. |
è l'una. eh LOO-nah |
It's 1:10. |
è l'una e dieci. eh LOO-nah eh DYEH-chee |
It's 12:55. (It's 1:00 minus 5.) |
è l'una meno cinque. eh LOO-nah MAY-noh CHIN-kway |
it's 1:45 |
è l'una e quarantacinque. eh LOO-nah eh kwah-rahn-tah CHIN-kway |
And è … is used with the following time expressions:
It's noon. |
è mezzogiorno. eh mehts-oh JOHR-noh |
It's midnight. |
è mezzanotte. eh mehts-ah NOHT-tay |
The expression Sono le … is used to express all times from 2:00 on:
It's 12:20. |
Sono le dodici e venti. soh-noh leh DOH-dee-chee eh VEHN-tee |
It's 2:00. |
Sono le due. soh-noh leh DOO-ay |
It's 3:15. |
Sono le tre e quindici. soh-noh leh treh e KWEEN-dee-chee |
It's 4:30. |
Sono le quattro e mezzo. soh-noh leh KWAHT-troh a MEHD-soh |
It's 4:42. |
Sono le quattro e quarantadue. soh-noh leh KWAHT-troh eh kwah-rahn-tah-DOO-ay |
It's 5:05. |
Sono le cinque e cinque. soh-noh leh CHIN-kway e CHIN-kway |
It's 6:55. |
Sono le sette meno cinque orSono le sei e cinquantacinque. soh-noh leh SEHT-teh MAY-noh CHIN-kway or soh-noh leh say eh chin-kwahn-tah-CHIN-kway |
It's 7:58. (It's 8:00 minus 2.) |
Sono le otto meno due. soh-noh leh OHT-toh MAY-noh DOO-ay |
It's 8 |
Sono le otto di mattina. soh-noh leh OHT-toh dee maht-TEE-nah |
It's 10 P.M. |
Sono le dieci di sera. soh-noh leh DYEH-chee dee say-rah |
FACT
In Italy, it's common to see the twenty-four-hour clock used for scheduling purposes. Expect to see it when you look at train or plane schedules, conference schedules, television programming, and so on.
