Being able to tell the time is an essential skill for daily communication. Whether you're fixing an appointment, asking about the opening hours of a shop, or simply making small talk, knowing how to express time in Italian will come in handy. By the end of this guide, you'll be able to ask and answer questions about time confidently!
In Italian, you can ask the time in two main ways:
Che ora è?
What time is it?
Uses the singular form of the word ora (hour).
Che ore sono?
What time is it?
Uses the plural form ore (hours). Both are commonly used and interchangeable.
To answer these questions, you'll need to use the definite article le in front of the hour, except when it's one o'clock, where you'll use l’ with an apostrophe.
Sono le due.
It is two o'clock.
Sono le tre.
It is three o'clock.
Sono le cinque.
It is five o'clock.
However, for one o'clock, you'll say:
È l’una.
It is one o'clock.
To express the minutes after the hour, use e and:
È l’una e venti.
It’s one twenty.
Sono le tre e cinque.
It’s three oh five.
Sono le due e dieci.
It’s two ten.
To say the time is to the hour, use meno (minus):
È l’una meno cinque.
It’s five minutes to one.
Sono le due meno dieci.
It’s ten minutes to two.
Sono le otto meno venti.
It’s twenty minutes to eight.
Un quarto = a quarter
Mezza = half
È un quarto.
It’s a quarter past the hour.
È mezza.
It’s half past the hour.
Sono le due e mezza.
It’s two thirty.
Sono le cinque e mezza.
It’s five thirty.
Sono le tre meno un quarto.
It’s a quarter to three.
Sono le dieci e un quarto.
It’s a quarter past ten.
To say half to, you can use meno trenta literally thirty to:
L’una meno trenta.
It’s twelve thirty.
Le tre meno trenta.
It’s two thirty.
Mezzogiorno = midday 12:00 PM
Mezzanotte = midnight 12:00 AM
Examples:
Io ho pranzato a mezzogiorno.
I had lunch at noon.
Sono tornata a casa a mezzanotte.
I returned home at midnight.
You can also specify whether you're referring to morning, afternoon, evening, or night by using the preposition di followed by the part of the day:
Examples:
Sono le tre del pomeriggio.
It’s three in the afternoon.
Sono tornata a casa alle due di notte.
I returned home at two in the morning.
To ask at what time something is, use A che ora? and respond with alle followed by the time:
A che ora è la partita?
At what time is the game?
È alle otto e un quarto della sera.
It’s at eight fifteen in the evening.
Domani mi sveglio alle sette.
Tomorrow, I wake up at seven.
Inizio a lavorare alle otto.
I start working at eight.
Io e Alice ci troviamo alle sei e mezza.
Alice and I meet at six thirty.
Ho un appuntamento alle tre.
I have an appointment at three.
To indicate approximately when something will happen, use verso around:
Verso le dodici.
Around twelve.
Verso l’una.
Around one.
Ieri sono rientrata verso le due.
Yesterday, I returned around two.
Ci troviamo verso le cinque?
Shall we meet around five?
Ha iniziato a piovere verso le tre.
It started raining around three.
It's also helpful to know common time-related vocabulary in Italian:
Ti ho aspettato per un'ora.
I waited for you for an hour.
Puoi aspettare un minuto?
Can you wait for a minute?
La canzone dura un minuto e trenta secondi.
The song lasts one minute and thirty seconds.
Ho studiato per un quarto d’ora.
I studied for a quarter of an hour.
