1. Telling Time in Italian
L’Orario
Telling Time in Italian

2. Telling Time In Italian there are two ways of asking the time:
Che ora è? or
Che ore sono?
They both have the same meaning; although it is more common to use the second form.

3. Telling Time
When answering the question, there are two forms used: è and sono. These are not interchangeable.
One uses “è” is used with the following times:
Noon – È mezzogiorno.
Midnight – È mezzanotte.
One o’clock – È l’una.**
**É is used with 1:00 only until 1:30.

4. Telling Time
When expressing time in Italian, the definite article “le” is used in front of the hour.
It is used because the Italian word for hour, l’ora, is feminine and when expressing plural hours, it becomes le ore.

5. Telling Time
When expressing time that is not “on the dot” of an hour, we use the word “e” between the hour and minutes:
Sono le due e dieci. 2:10
Sono le sette e venti. 7:20
Sono le undici e tredici. 11:13

6. Telling Time Halves and Quarters
In English, there are two ways to express half past an hour. We can say for example that it is three thirty or we can say it is half past three.
In Italian, it is the same. One may say:
Sono le tre e trenta. or
Sono le tre e mezzo.

7. Telling Time
When expressing either quarter past or quarter of an hour, it can be expressed just as in English as well.
4:15
Sono le quattro e quindici.
Sono le quattro e un quarto.
5: 45
Sono le cinque e quarantacinque.
Sono le cinque e tre quarti.

8. Telling Time Time of Day:
In Europe AM and PM are used in general telling of time.
However, when reading time tables for airplanes, trains, museums, and other schedules, they are still printed using the 24 hour clock.

9. Telling Time
In conversation, however, time of day is expressed as seen below:
A.M.
di (della) mattina – in the morning
P.M.
di (del) pomeriggio – in the afternoon
di (della) sera – in the evening
di (della) notte – at night