How to Tell Time and Date in Italian

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There are gateways to learning a language. One of them is to learn some socialising preliminaries, such as counting or telling time and date. Here, a brief How To is presented for time and date in Italian.

Steps

  1. Learn counting and numbers in Italian from WikiHow simple page, How to Count in Italian.
  2. Note that pronounciations are cited informally. Formal pronounciations in Italian phoenetics are inside slashes /.../.

Learn Time

  1. Time: Ora, Tempo (tem-poe). (/o-ra/, /tεm-po/)
    • Clock: L'orologio (loroh-lodjoe). (/lo-ro--dʒo/)
    • Hour: L'ora (lo-rah). (/lo-ra/)
    • Minute: Minuto (minoo-toe). (/mi-nu-to/)
    • Second: Secondo (secon-doe). (/se-kon-do/)
    • Moment: Momento (momen-toe). (/mo-men-to/)
    • Quarter: Quarto (koo-ar-toe). (/kwar-to/)
    • Half: Mezzo (met-tzoe). (/mεd-dzo/)
    • A quarter to: Meno un quarto (men-o-oon-koo-ar-toe). (/me-no/ /un/ /kwar-to/)
    • Morning, AM: Di mattina (dee-mat-teenah). (/di/ /ma-ti-na/)
    • Noon: Mezzogiorno (met-tzoe-djor-no). (/med-dzo-dʒor-no/)
    • Afternoon, PM: Di pomeriggio (dee-po-mereej-joe). (/di/ /po-me-rid-dʒo/)
    • Evening, PM: Di sera (dee-seh-ra). (/di/ /se-ra/)
    • Midnight: Mezzanotte (met-tzah-not-teh). (/med-dza-nɔt-te)
  2. Ask time!
    • What time is it? Che ora è? (keh-orah-eh). (/ke/ /o-ra/ /è/)
      • It is eight o'clock. Sono le otto (so-no-leh-ot-toe). (/so-no/ /le/ /ɔt-to/)
      • It is ten past eight. Sono le otto e dieci (so-no-leh-ot-toe-eh-dee-eh-chee). (/so-no/ /le/ /ɔt-to/ /e/ /djε-t∫i/)
      • It is quarter past eight. Sono le otto e un quarto (so-no-leh-ot-toe). (/so-no/ /le/ /ɔt-to/ /e/ /kwar-to/)
      • It is half past eight. Sono le otto e mezzo (so-no-leh-ot-toe-eh-met-tzoe). (/so-no/ /le/ /ɔt-to/ /e/ /mεd-dzo/)
      • It is quarter to nine. Sono le nove meno un quarto (so-no-leh-no-veh-men-oh-oon-koo-ar-toe). (/so-no/ /le/ /-ve/ /me-no/ /un/ /kwar-to/)
      • It is ten to nine. Sono le nove meno dieci (so-no-leh-no-veh-men-oh-dee-eh-chee). (/so-no/ /le/ /-ve/ /me-no/ /djε-t∫i/)
  3. Ask when!
    • At What time? A che ora (ah-keh-o-rah)? (/a/ /ke/ /o-ra/)
      • At one o'clock. All'una (ahl-loon-ah). (/al-lu-na/)
      • At two o'clock. Alle due (aleh-doo-eh). (/al-le/ /du-e/)
      • At eight o'clock in the evening. Alle otto di sera. (/al-le/ /ɔt-to/ /di/ /se-ra/)

Learn Dates

  1. Calendar: Calendario (ka-len-daree-o). (/ka-len-da-rjo/)
    • Year: L’anno (lan-no). (/lan-no/)
    • Season: La stagione (lastah-djoe-neh). (/la/ /sta-dʒo-ne/)
    • Month: Il mese (eel-meh-zeh). (/il/ /me-ze/)
    • Winter: L’inverno (leen-ver-no). (/lin-vεr-no/)
      • January: Gennaio (djehn-nah-yoe). (/dʒen-na-jo/)
      • February: Febbraio (feb-rah-yoe). (/feb-bra-jo/)
      • March: Marzo (mart-so). (/mar-tso/)
    • Spring: La primavera (lapreemah-veh-rah). (/la/ /pri-ma--ra/)
      • April: Aprile (ah-p-reeleh). (/a-pri-le/)
      • May: Maggio (mah-djoe). (mad-dʒo)
      • June: Giugno (djoo-nee-o). (/dʒuŋ-ŋo/)
    • Summer: L’estate (less-tah-teh). (/le-sta-te/)
      • July: Luglio (looy-lee-oh). (/luʎ-ʎo/)
      • August: Agosto (ah-gohs-to). (/a-gos-to/)
      • September: Settembre (seht-temb-reh). (/set-tεm-bre/)
    • Autumn: L’autunno (lah-oo-toon-no). (/lau-tun-no/)
      • October: Ottobre (ot-tob-reh). (/ot-to-bre/)
      • November: Novembre (no-vemb-reh). (/no-vεm-bre/)
      • December: Dicembre (dee-chemb-reh). (/di-t∫εm-bre/)
    • Week: Settimana (set-tee-mah-nah). (/set-ti-ma-na/)
      • Monday: Lunedì (loo-neh-dee). (/lu-ne-di/)
      • Tuesday: Martedì (marteh-dee). (/mar-te-di/)
      • Wednesday: Mercoledì (merkoleh-dee). (/mer-ko-le-di/)
      • Thursday: Giovedì (djoe-veh-dee). (/dʒo-ve-di/)
      • Friday: Venerdì (ve-ner-dee). (/ve-ner-di/)
      • Saturday: Sabato (sah-bah-toe). (/sa-ba-to/)
      • Sunday: Domenica (doe-meneekah). (/do-me-ni-ka/)
  2. Ask dates!
    • In Italian, in contrast to English, they use cardinal numbers. Hence, they say, "30 martz," not "30th March."
    • Only for the first day of the month, Italians use ordinal "primo" abbreviated as 1o, equivalent to English 1st.
    • In Italian, they do not capitalize names of months.
    • What is the date? Quanti ne abbiamo (koo-ahntee-neh-ahb-bee-ahmo)? (/kwan-ti/ /ne/ /ab-bja-mo/)
      • It is 30th of March 2012. È il (eh-eel) trenta marzo 2012. (/e/ /il/ /tren-ta/ /mar-tso/)
      • It is 12th of July 2010. È il dodici luglio 2010. (/e/ /il/ /do-di-t∫i/ /luʎ-ʎo/)
      • It is 1st of May 2012. È il primo maggio 2012. (/e/ /il/ /pri-mo/ /mad-dʒo)
      • It is 20th of September 1870. È il venti settembre 1870. (/e/ /il/ /ven-ti/ /set-tεm-bre/)
    • Do not forget, "È il," where, "È" means "is" and "il" is the Italian article similar to English the.
    • What is today? Che giorno è (keh-djor-no-eh)? (/ke/ /or-no/ /e/)
      • It is Saturday. È sabato. (/e/ /sa-ba-to/)
      • It is Monday. È lunedi. (/e/ /lu-ne-di/)
      • It is Thursday. È giovedi. (/e/ /dʒo-ve-di/)
    • Italians also do not capitalise weekdays.

Learn Modifiers of Time

  1. These modifiers define the time of events in Italian.
  2. First group:
    • Day: Il giorno (eel-djor-no). (/il/ /dʒor-no/)
    • Night: La Notte (note-teh). (/il/ /nɔt-te/)
  3. Second group:
    • The day before yesterday: L'altro Ieri (lahl-teh-roe-yeh-ree). (/lal-tro/ /jε-ri/)
    • Yesterday: Ieri. (/jε-ri/)
    • Today: Oggi (o-djee). (ɔd-dʒi)
    • Tomorrow: Domani (doe-mah-nee). (/do-ma-ni/)
    • The day after tomorrow: Domani l'altro. (/do-ma-ni/ /lal-tro/)
  4. Third group:
    • Before: Prima di. (/pri-ma/ /di/)
    • Now: Adesso. (/a-dεs-so/)
    • After: Dopo. (/do-po/)
  5. Fourth group:
    • Never (ever): Mai. (/mai/)
    • Seldom: Di rado. (/di/ /ra-do/)
    • Occasionally: talvolta. (/tal-vɔl-ta/)
    • Often: Spesso. (spes-so)
    • Usually: Di Solito. (/di/ /sɔ-li-to/)
    • Always: Sempre. (/sεm-pre/)
    • Forever: Per sempre. (/per/ /sεm-pre/)
  6. Fifth group:
    • Early: Presto. (/prεs-to)
    • Late: Tardi. (/tar-di/)
  7. Sixth group:
    • Immediately: Subito. (/su-bi-to/)
    • Then: Poi. (/pɔi/)
    • Soon: Appena. (/ap-pe-na/)
    • Later: Dopo. (/do-po/)
    • Finally: Infine. (/in-fi-ne/.)
  8. Seventh group:
    • Past: Scorso. (/skor-so/)
    • Present: Presente. (/pre-zεn-te/)
    • Future: Futuro. (fu-tu-ro)
  9. Further enriching expressions:
    • For today : per oggi. (/per/ /ɔd-dʒi/)
    • Until tomorrow : a domani. (/a/ /do-ma-ni/)
    • Until later : a più tardi. (/a/ /pju/ /tar-di/)
    • All day : tutto il giorno. (/tut-to/ /il/ /dʒor-no/)
    • At the same time : allo stesso tempo. (/al-lo/ /stes-so/ /tεm-po/)
    • In the mean time (meanwhile) : nel frattempo. (/nel/ /tεm-po/)
    • From time to time (occasionally) : di tempo in tempo, di tanto in tanto). (/di/ /tεm-po/ /in/ /tεm-po/) (/di/ /tan-to/ /in/ /tan-to/)
    • Ahead of time (sooner) : in anticipo. (/in/ /an-ti-t∫i-po/)
    • Just now : proprio ora. (/prɔ-prjo/ /o-ra/)
    • Until now : fino ad ora. (/fi-no/ /ad/ /o-ra/)
    • Two (three, and so on) times a day (a week, and so on): due (tre, eccetera) volte al giorno (alla settimana, eccetera). (/du-e/ (/tre/ /et-t∫-te-ra/) /vɔl-te/ /al/ /dʒor-no/ (/al-la/ /set-ti-ma-na/ /et-t∫-te-ra/))

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