3 Asking and saying the time

To ask the time, you can either say:

• Che ore sono? What time is it? (literally: What hours are they?)

or:

• Che ora è? What time is it? (literally: What hour is it?)

To say the time, you use the verb essere. For all plural hour times use sono:

• Sono le due. It’s two o’clock.
• Sono le undici. It’s eleven o’clock.

but for ‘one o’clock’ use è:

• È l’una. It’s one o’clock.

As you can see from the examples above, the definite article – le for plural hours and la (shortened to l’) for una – is used, followed by the hour.

For midday and midnight, è is used, without the article:

• È mezzogiorno. It’s midday.
• È mezzanotte. It’s midnight.

To emphasise an exact time on the hour, you can add in punto (‘on the dot’).

• Sono le undici in punto. It’s eleven o’clock precisely.