How to Tell Time in Italian: A Comprehensive Guide

As you make a trip to Italy, it is essential to keep yourself on schedule and record time, so you might not forget anything.

You have to be aware of the time that train arrives, when the hotel check-in occurs, or that museum exhibition opens – understanding the time is what you should start with to manage your schedule.

Whether you are planning to go to Italy anytime soon or you just want to learn more about the language, I will give you an easy guide on how to tell time in Italian.

But before I tell you how to actually ask for the time in Italian, I will give you some language lesson which I will repeat in this next section.

Should you consult a dictionary of the Italian language and seek time as a word, you will see that the translation word has different meanings.

The first word is “tempo.”

Now, this refers to time in kind of a general, abstract sense.

Like if you want to say

“How time flies” you’d say “Come vola il tempo.”

Or “Time is on our side” would be “Il tempo è dalla nostra.”

It can also mean a period of time, so you might say

“Molto tempo fa” for “a long time ago,”

“Poco tempo dopo” for “a short time after,”

or “per un po’ di tempo” for “for a time.”

So tempo has that sort of broad time meaning.

But there’s actually another specific word used when you want to ask for the actual time of day, “orario.”

This one comes from the word “ora” meaning hour.

And it refers to specific times or schedules. 

Like if you want to say “Let’s arrange a time to meet” in Italian, it would be:

”Decidiamo l’orario in cui incontrarci.”

And if you find yourself traveling around Italy, especially at train stations or airports, you’ll see these “orario” schedules everywhere.

You might see signs for “orario dei treni” which means the train timetable.

Or “orario dei voli” for the flight schedules.

So orario is kind of like the scheduled time for something.

While tempo is that more general sense of time passing.

Make sense so far?

Just want to make sure you’ve got the lingo down before we get into actually asking for the time itself when you’re in Italy.

Asking “What time is it?” In Italian

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for – how to actually ask “What time is it?” in Italian!

Get this – you don’t even need to use the word for “time” at all.

You can just use the word “ora” which means hour.

Either “ora” singular or “ore” plural.

So to ask “What time is it?” you’d say:

“Che ora è?” or “Che ore sono?” Literally “What hour is it?” or “What hours are they?” 

The key is using that verb “essere” – to be – in either the singular “è” or plural “sono” form. 

Here are some other ways you could ask:

Got all that?

If you want to practice try saying some of those out loud.

When you’re ready, we can go over how to actually tell the time once someone gives you the answer.

The asking part is half the battle when you’re trying to navigate Italy!

Telling the time in Italian

So, now that you know how to ask for the time in Italian, let me walk you through how to actually tell the time when someone asks you that info. 

The basic format is:

”Sono le … ” followed by the hour.

So you’d say:

”Sono le quattordici (14)“ using the 24 hours clock to say “It’s 2 o’clock;”

“Sono le due del pomeriggio” to say “It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon”

“Sono le nove” for 9 o’clock; and so on.

The one exception is 1 o’clock – for that you’d say “È l’una.“

If you need to specify the time that something is happening, you use the phrase “alle” before the hour.

”A che ora parte il treno? Il treno parte alle quindici (15)” which means “What time does the train leave? The train leaves at 3pm.”

But again, watch out for 1 o’clock.

Instead of “alle una” you’ll say “all’una.”

So you might say:

“All’una parto per Milano” meaning “At 1 o’clock I leave for Milan.”

The reason for that little quirk is because when you say “una” for the hour 1, it’s referring to the feminine noun “ora” and not the number “uno.”

But all the other numbers stay the same masculine form.

Clear as mud?

Haha no worries, just takes some practice.

Try giving me a few sample times in the comments below and I’ll confirm if you’ve got the right phrasing.

This is crucial stuff for not missing trains and appointments when traveling Italy!

How to say half past, quarter past, and quarter to

You know how in English we often don’t just bluntly state the exact hour, but use expressions like “half past” or “quarter to” when telling time? Well, in Italian we do the same thing.

The key phrases you’ll want to know are:

“Un quarto” for a quarter 

“Mezza” for “Mezz’ora” literally half an hour

“Tre quarti” for three quarters of an hour (45 minutes)

To use these, the formula goes:

“Sono le” + the hour number + “e” (meaning “and”) + whichever fraction phrase you need.

So for example:

“Sono le dieci e mezza” = It’s half past 10

“Sono le otto e un quarto” = It’s a quarter past 8  

“Sono le sei e tre quarti” = It’s a quarter to 7

For the last example, saying “a quarter to” the next hour, you could also phrase it as:

“Manca un quarto alle sette” = There’s a quarter missing until 7

“Sono le sette meno un quarto” = It’s 7 minus a quarter

Get it?

Using those fraction phrases just makes it sound a bit more natural versus always stating the exact numbered hour.

Though both ways are perfectly fine too.

It’s all about getting used to how we actually speak in everyday conversation.

Telling the time in Italian with the exact hour and minutes

Telling time in Italian with the exact hour and minutes is honestly pretty straightforward once you get the basic formula down.

All you’ve got to do is say:

“Sono le” which just means “It’s…”

Then you say the hour number, followed by “e” meaning “and”, and then just tack on the minutes.

Bam, you’ve nailed the exact time!

Like if it’s 11:05, you’d be all

“Sono le undici e zero cinque” – “It’s 11 and 05.” Easy peasy.

For 20:34 you’d say

“Sono le venti e trentaquattro” – It’s 20:34, or 8:34 pm;

12:40 is

“Sono le dodici e quaranta” – It’s 12:40

You can even get super specific by adding the word “minuto” (if it’s just one minute) or “minuti” if there’s more than one.

Like:

“È l’una e venti minuti” – It’s one and twenty minutes, 1:20

“Sono le otto e un minuto” – It’s eight and one minute, 8:01

Just keep in mind for 1 o’clock, you’ll say

“È l’una” instead of “Sono le 1” – kind of an oddball there.

But other than that one little quirk, it’s seriously straightforward.

Once you lock down that “It’s…and…” formula, telling precise time in Italian will be second nature, I promise.

No need to overcomplicate it like we do in English.

We keep it refreshingly simple on this one!

Listen to the podcast episode!

The Phrasing Changes After 40 Minutes

There’s one more little quirk you need to know when telling time in Italian.

Up until around 40 minutes past the hour, you just stick to that basic formula we talked so far.

You know, where you say “It’s…” which is “Sono le” in Italian, then hit ’em with the hour number, followed by “e” meaning “and”, and just tack those minutes on at the end.

Easy as pie up until that 40 minute mark or so.

So for example:

– 8:15 would be “Sono le otto e un quarto” (It’s a quarter past 8)

– 8:25 would be “Sono le otto e venticinque” (It’s 25 past 8) 

– 8:35 would be “Sono le otto e trentacinque” (It’s 35 past 8)

But once you start creeping up towards the next hour, say around 40 minutes past or later, that’s when things shift a little bit.

We get a bit more descriptive at that point, just like in English.

Instead of saying the hour plus the minutes, you’ll want to say the minutes minus the next hour.

For example:

• 8:40 would be “Sono le nove meno venti” – literally It’s 9 minus 20 minutes (It’s 20 to 9)
• 8:45 would be “Sono le nove meno un quarto” literally It’s 9 minus a quarter (It’s a quarter to 9)
• 8:50 would be “Sono le nove meno dieci” literally It’s 9 minus 10 (It’s ten to nine)
• 8:55 would be “Sono le nove meno cinque” literally it’s 9 minus 5 (It’s five to nine)

You may also hear the exact English translation, for the above time frame:

for 8:40 – “Mancano venti alle nove” or simply “Venti alle nove,” which is the literal translation of the English “it’s twenty to nine.”

And the same goes for the others:

8:45 – “Manca un quarto alle nove” or “Un quarto alle nove“

8:50 – “Mancano dieci minuti alle nove” or simply “Dieci alle nove.”

So just keep an eye on that minute count as you’re approaching the upcoming hour.

Once you hit that 40-45 minute range, be ready to switch up how you express it in Italian.

But for that first chunk of the hour, you’re good to just run with that “It’s…and…” formula we covered.

Then after that, we’ll clue you in with more of a “There’s this much time left until…” type of phrasing.

Simple as that!

Until next time, ciao alla prossima!