Questions & Answers about Il punto è che non ho tempo.
Why is there no article before tempo? Don't we usually need articles for nouns in Italian?
While Italian uses definite articles more often than English, we leave them out when talking about an unspecific quantity of an uncountable noun like time. So, just like in English, we say non ho tempo (I don't have time) rather than non ho il tempo.
Can punto mean point as in a dot or a score, or just an idea like in this sentence?
It means all of those! The word punto is very versatile. You can use it for a physical dot, a full stop in punctuation, a score in a sports game, or the main issue in a discussion, exactly as used here.
Why do we use che for that here instead of a word like quello?
Che is used as a conjunction to connect two clauses. Here, it connects Il punto è (The point is) with the second action non ho tempo (I don't have time). You would use quello when that points to a specific physical object, like that book or that car.
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