Lesson 15 - Date and time in Italian
Le date
In Italian only the first day of the moth is indicated with the use of the ordinal number version ( ex. It’s January 1 = E’ il primo di gennaio ). The cardinal numbers from 2 to 31 indicate the other days of the month.
Che giorno è oggi ? —> What day is today ?
Oggi è il 26 gennaio —> Today is January 26th
E’ il 5 Luglio —> it is July 5.
The complete date in Italian is written as
Il + number of the day ( cardinal = 2…31 / ordinal = 1) + month + year
Il 28 Settembre 1961 —> ( eng. September 28, 1961 )
In Italian the use of the ordinal number , to indicate dates, is made only to indicate the first of the month ( = il primo del mese ).
Domani è il primo Agosto —> Tomorrow is the first of August
Orario
The two most common way in Italian to ask for the time are:
Che ore sono?
—-> What time is it ?
Che ora è ?
The answer is always made with the third singular - person verb form if you want to indicate this time : one o’clock , noon and midnight. The definite article is not used in front of mezzogiorno or mezzanotte but of the other situation it is always used.
ex.
Era mezzogiorno —> it was noon
E’ l’una —> it is one o’clock
E’ mezzanotte —> it is midnight
For the other cases , it is used the form : Sono le + number of the hours
ex.
Sono le dieci —> it is ten o’clock
Sono le diciassette —> it is seventeen o’clock
It Italian if you want to express the the hour with only using the number from 1 to 12 with the system of A.M. or P.M. you say the hour is this way :
8am to noon —> di mattina
1pm to 5pm —> di pomeriggio
5pm to 9pm —> di sera
10pm to 8 am —> di notte
Ex .
17:00 or 5:00 pm —> Sono le diciassette / Sono le cinque del pomeriggio
9:00 or 9:00 am —> sono le dove di mattina / sono le nove
To express the minutes , in Italian with add e+ the number of the minutes elapsed.
Sono le dieci e dieci —> It is ten after ten . ( 10:10 )
Sono le nove e venti —> it is twenty after seven
From the half an hour to the next hour we use —> meno ( minus ) + the number of the minute before the next hour
Sono le cinque meno dieci —> it is ten to five
Sono le dieci meno cinque —> it is five to ten
To indicate that are the exactly an hour we add in punto or esatte at the end of the phrase
ex. Sono le sei in punto —> it is exactly six o’clock
Sono le tre esatte —> it is three o’clock sharp
In Italian the “ a quarter ” = un quarto , “ a half ” = mezzo or mezza often replace the minutes quindici (= 15) and trenta (=30).
Un questo d’ora = a quarter of an hour
Una mezz’ora = half an hour
Ex.
Sono le dieci e mezza —> it is half past ten
Sono le dieci e trenta —> it is ten thirty
Sono le tre e un quarto —> it is a quarter after three
Sono le tre e quindici —> it is three fifteen
If you want to indicate when a certain event is happening in Italian you use the proposition a + the definite article la e le.
A che ora ? —-> At what time ?
A che ora è che inizia la festa di Davide ? —> at what time is Davide’s party starting ?
Exercise
