How to tell the time: Italian grammar lesson 15

Start here

You’ll receive my free resources together with my best offers! Opt out at any time.

Knowing how to tell the time is important in all languages. There are a few Italian phrases you’ll find very useful when you want to tell the time or when you want to ask what time it is.

In this post, you’ll learn how to tell the time in Italian.

Let’s get started!

Telling the time in Italian

Useful questions

Interestingly, when we talk about time in Italian we talk about hours and not about time.

For this reason, we can use the singular or the plural. Both options are correct.

Che ora è?

What time is it? (Literally “What hour is it?)

Che ore sono?

What time is it? (Literally “What hours are they?)

If we want to ask “at what time” we use the singular form:

A che ora vai a scuola?

At what time do you go to school?

Che ora e che ore sono

Useful answers

We use the singular form “Èonly when we talk about 1 AM or 1 PM, midday or midnight.

We don’t always specify whether we’re talking about “del mattino” (in the morning), “del pomeriggio” (in the afternoon), “di sera” (in the evening), or “di notte” (in the night), since sometimes it’s pretty obvious.

Also, in English people tend to say “AM” or “PM”. In Italian, it’s not that common.

Have a look at the following sentences:

È l’una del pomeriggio.

It’s 1 in the afternoon.

È l’una di notte.

It’s 1 in the morning.

È l’una e mezza.

It’s 1:30 (am or pm, depending on the time of the day).

È mezzogiorno.

It’s midday.

È mezzanotte.

It’s midnight.

For the other “hours”, we use the plural form “Sono“. Sometimes we use the 24-hour format (especially when we write and in formal contexts), so you might hear people say 17 instead of 5 or 21 instead of 9.

Free Guide
How to Learn Languages Fast

Here are some examples:

Sono le 5 (cinque) del pomeriggio.

It’s 5 in the afternoon.

Sono le 2 (due).

It’s 2 (AM or PM, depending on the time of the day).

Sono le 7 (sette).

It’s 2 (AM or PM, depending on the time of the day).

Sono le 21 (ventuno).

It’s 9 PM.

How to tell the time in Italian

Practice with Quizlet

Here's a set of flashcards and quizzes to practice this grammar topic.

How to tell the minutes

Let’s now learn how to tell the minutes:

  • 5:05 – Sono le cinque e cinque.
  • 5:10 – Sono le cinque e dieci.
  • 5:15 – Sono le cinque e un quarto.
  • 5:20 – Sono le cinque e venti.
  • 5:25 – Sono le cinque e venticinque.
  • 5:30 – Sono le cinque e mezza.
  • 5:35 – Sono le cinque e trentacinque.
  • 5:40 – Sono le sei meno venti.
  • 5:45 – Sono le sei meno un quarto.
  • 5:50 – Sono le sei meno dieci.
  • 5:55 – Sono le sei meno cinque.

Just so you know, you can always just read the time and say “sono le undici e cinquanta” instead of “sono le dodici meno dieci”.

You’ll be referring to exactly the same time. Both ways are correct.

It’s the same in English: you can either say “it’s eleven fifty” or “it’s ten to twelve”.

How to tell the time in Italian 1

Still translating in your head? Wanna speak Italian for real? Check out Stefano's courses to think directly in Italian and become fluent fast!

Stefano

Italian language tutor, course author, and polyglot. After learning 12 languages, I can tell you that we all master languages by listening and mimicking. With my method, you'll be speaking Italian from Lesson 1.

Follow me to fluency​

Receive my free resources once a week together with my best offers! No need to look around, just tell me where to send everything.

Follow me to fluency

Receive my free resources once a week together with my best offers! No need to look around, just tell me where to send everything.

Opt out at any time.

Leave a Reply

Share:

To master this topic, take a lesson from my audio course!

Still translating in your head?

Wanna speak Italian for real? Check out Stefano’s courses to think directly in Italian and become fluent fast!
Try my courses for free​
ripeti con me mockup sm

Let me show you around

Overcome your Barriers

Anything holding you back from becoming fluent?
Get on the right track today with my free checklist!

pain learning languages checklist preview
How long to fluency?

Find out how long it will take you to master Italian!
Get on the right track in 3 minutes.

dolce vita logo

We're already friends!

Coming from Luca and Marina?
Here's a special deal for you!
Just tell me where I should send the coupon.

50% OFF
all language resources

We're already friends!

Coming from All Language Resources?
Here's a special deal for you!
Just tell me where I should send the coupon.

50% OFF
GRAB A COUPON NOW, REDEEM IT LATER
50% OFF

To receive free resources once a week together with my best offers, just tell me where to send everything. Opt out at any time.