Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Asking and telling the time

To ask for the time, use the phrase **che ore sono?** (literally, "what hours are they?"). 

{{item:804633}}

To answer, use **sono le** followed by the hour. We use the feminine plural article **le** because it refers to *le ore* (the hours). To add fractions of an hour, use **e** (and) followed by the minutes, **un quarto** (a quarter), or **mezzo** (half).

{{item:804635}}

{{item:804637}}

### Counting down to the next hour

Past the half-hour mark, Italians often state the *upcoming* hour and subtract from it using **meno** (less / to). 

Note that one o'clock is singular (*l'ora*), so you use **è l'una** (it is one) instead of *sono le*.

{{item:804639}}

{{item:804640}}

When talking about a duration rather than the time on the clock, use **il minuto** (minute).

{{item:804642}}

### Saying "at what time"

To ask when an event happens, use **a che ora...?** (at what time...?).

{{item:804643}}

To say something happens *at* a certain time, most hours take **alle** (*a* + *le*). However, **mezzogiorno** (noon) and **mezzanotte** (midnight) take just **a** (without an article).

{{item:804645}}

You can add fractions to these times just like regular hours.

{{item:804646}}

{{item:804649}}

### Being late

To express that a person or vehicle is running late, use **di ritardo** (of delay) after the amount of time.

{{item:804650}}

Telling time (sono le...)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Past tense of modal verbs

Question	Answer
Excuse me, what time is it?	Scusi, che ore sono?
quarter	il quarto
It is a quarter past three.	Sono le tre e un quarto.
half	mezzo
It is half past four.	Sono le quattro e mezzo.
to / less (time) / less	meno
It is a quarter to one.	È l'una meno un quarto.
It is twenty to two.	Sono le due meno venti.
minute	il minuto
We are waiting ten minutes.	Aspettiamo dieci minuti.
What time are you coming tonight?	A che ora vieni stasera?
noon	il mezzogiorno
The train arrives at noon.	Il treno arriva a mezzogiorno.
The lesson starts at half past noon.	La lezione inizia a mezzogiorno e mezzo.
midnight	la mezzanotte
I am coming at midnight.	Vengo a mezzanotte.
The party finishes at midnight.	La festa finisce a mezzanotte.
The train is five minutes late.	Il treno ha cinque minuti di ritardo.
the moment	il momento
One moment, please!	Un momento, per favore!
This is an important moment.	Questo è un momento importante.
the instant (un attimo! = just a sec)	l'attimo
"Is the coffee ready?" "Just a moment, please!"	Il caffè è pronto? Un attimo, per favore!
The doctor is arriving in a moment.	Il dottore arriva fra un attimo.

Contributors