Learn Farsi: الان ساعت چند است؟

In English, we ask "what time is it?", but Farsi literally asks "how many is the hour?". That is why we use chand (how many or how much) instead of che (what).

Does the word sâ'at mean "time" in a general sense?

Not exactly. Sâ'at specifically means "hour", "clock", or "watch". When you ask this question, you are literally asking "how many is the clock?". For general time, like saying "I don't have time", Farsi uses different words like vaqt.

Why is alân at the very beginning of the sentence?

In Farsi, time markers (words that tell us when something happens) usually go at the very beginning of the sentence or right after the subject. Since there is no explicit subject like "it" here, alân naturally sits at the front.

How would this sentence sound in everyday spoken Farsi?

In casual speech, the formal words chand ast merge into chande. So, you will almost always hear people say alân sâ'at chande? instead of pronouncing the full formal verb ast at the end.