Domani la bigliettaia apre lo sportello alle sedici in punto e lo chiude alle diciotto.

Domani means tomorrow, and putting it first sets the time frame right away.

Italian often places time expressions like domani, oggi, stasera, etc. at the beginning for emphasis or clarity:

• Domani la bigliettaia apre...
• La bigliettaia apre domani...

Both are possible. The first one sounds very natural if you want to foreground when it happens.

Bigliettaia is a feminine noun meaning a female ticket clerk / ticket seller.

• la = the, feminine singular
• bigliettaia = female ticket clerk

The masculine form is il bigliettaio.

This noun is built from biglietto (ticket) plus a job-related ending. In modern Italian, you may also hear other job titles depending on the context, but bigliettaia is perfectly understandable and standard.

Because Italian usually drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

• apre = she/he opens
• chiude = she/he closes

So instead of saying:

• Lei apre...

Italian normally just says:

• Apre...

Here, the noun la bigliettaia already tells you who the subject is, so a separate pronoun is unnecessary.

Sportello often means a service window, counter window, or ticket window.

It does not usually mean a big general window like a house window. In places like stations, offices, or banks, sportello is the small window or counter where customers are served.

So in this sentence, it means the ticket office window/counter that the ticket clerk opens and closes.

Because sportello starts with s + consonant (sp-), and masculine singular nouns of this type normally take lo instead of il.

Examples:

• lo sportello
• lo studente
• lo zaino
• lo psicologo

So:

• il libro but
• lo sportello

This is just a standard article rule in Italian.

Italian often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially for scheduled or planned events.

So:

• Domani la bigliettaia apre...

literally uses the present, but it naturally refers to a future action.

English does something similar sometimes:

• Tomorrow the store opens at 4.

Italian could also use a future form in some contexts, but the present tense is very common here and sounds natural.

Alle is the usual way to say at with clock times.

It comes from:

• a + le = alle

Examples:

• all’una = at one
• alle due = at two
• alle sedici = at sixteen hundred / at 4 p.m.
• alle diciotto = at eighteen hundred / at 6 p.m.

Italian often uses the 24-hour clock, especially in formal or practical contexts like schedules, offices, trains, and business hours.

Yes, you often can.

• alle quattro = at four
• alle sedici = at sixteen hundred / 4 p.m.

The 24-hour form is especially common in schedules, announcements, official information, and written notices. In everyday speech, many people also say:

• alle quattro
• alle sei

If the context is clear, both are natural, but alle sedici sounds more like formal opening hours.

In punto means exactly, as in on the dot.

So:

• alle sedici in punto = at exactly 4:00
• alle otto in punto = at exactly 8:00

It emphasizes that the action happens at the exact stated time, not a little before or after.

That lo is a direct object pronoun meaning it.

It refers back to lo sportello:

• apre lo sportello = she opens the window
• lo chiude = she closes it

Italian often uses object pronouns like this to avoid repeating the noun.

In Italian, unstressed direct object pronouns usually come before a conjugated verb.

So:

• lo chiude = she closes it
• la vede = she sees her/it
• li compra = she buys them

This is different from English, where the object pronoun comes after the verb:

• closes it

With normal finite verbs, Italian pronouns generally go before the verb.

Yes. You could say:

• Domani la bigliettaia apre lo sportello alle sedici in punto e chiude lo sportello alle diciotto.

That is grammatically correct, but it sounds more repetitive. Using lo is more natural:

• ...e lo chiude alle diciotto.

So the pronoun makes the sentence smoother.

Because domani is normally used without an article when it means tomorrow.

Examples:

• Domani parto. = I’m leaving tomorrow.
• Domani apre alle sedici. = It opens tomorrow at 4:00.

This is similar to how English also says tomorrow, not the tomorrow.

The sentence’s word order is natural, but Italian allows some flexibility.

Original:

• Domani la bigliettaia apre lo sportello alle sedici in punto e lo chiude alle diciotto.

Possible variations:

• La bigliettaia apre lo sportello domani alle sedici in punto e lo chiude alle diciotto.
• Alle sedici in punto domani la bigliettaia apre lo sportello...

However, not all versions sound equally natural in every context. The original order is good because it is clear and flows well:

1. when = Domani
2. who = la bigliettaia
3. what happens = apre lo sportello
4. when exactly = alle sedici in punto
5. and then = e lo chiude alle diciotto

The two main verbs are:

• apre from aprire = to open
• chiude from chiudere = to close

Both are in the third person singular present:

• lei apre = she opens
• lei chiude = she closes

That matches the subject la bigliettaia, which is singular.

So the structure is:

• la bigliettaia apre...
• (la bigliettaia) lo chiude...

The subject is understood with both verbs, even though it is only stated once.