Questions & Answers about Il spettacolo inizia alle otto.
In Italian, you almost always use the definite article with singular countable nouns when referring to something specific or in a general sense.
- il spettacolo = “the show.”
Dropping il (→ Spettacolo inizia alle otto) would sound unnatural or incomplete.
Both iniziare and cominciare mean “to begin/start” and are interchangeable here:
- Il spettacolo inizia alle otto.
- Il spettacolo comincia alle otto.
Iniziare can feel slightly more formal, but there’s no significant meaning difference in this context.
alle is the contraction of a (at) + le (the, feminine plural). Hours (except l’una) are feminine plural in Italian:
- a + le due → alle due
- a + le otto → alle otto
You don’t say le otto by itself in a time expression without the preposition. The article merges into alle:
- a + le otto → alle otto
Here otto is just the number; the “the” is already built into alle.
Add a time-of-day phrase:
- di mattina (in the morning): Il corso inizia alle otto di mattina.
- di sera (in the evening): Il film inizia alle otto di sera.
Alternatively, use the 24-hour clock: alle 20:00.
Yes. In timetables, tickets, movie listings, etc., Italians often use numerals:
- Il concerto inizia alle 8.
Formal or digital displays may even show 08:00.
Yes. Italian word order is flexible. Starting with Alle otto shifts emphasis to the time. The neutral, most common order remains:
Subj. (Il spettacolo) + Verb (inizia) + Time (alle otto).
Yes—inizia a otto is ungrammatical. You always need the article merged into alle (a + le) before an hour:
- ✅ inizia alle otto
- ❌ inizia a otto