Italian All-in-One For Dummies (17 page)

Sono le cinque.
(
soh
-noh les
cheen
-qweh.) (
It's 5:00.
)

Sono le sei.
(
soh
-noh les sey.) (
It's 6:00.
)

Sono le sette.
(
soh
-noh leh
seht
-teh.) (
It's 7:00.
)

Sono le otto.
(
soh
-noh leh
oht
-toh.) (
It's 8:00.
)

Sono le nove.
(
soh
-noh leh
noh
-veh.) (
It's 9:00.
)

Sono le dieci.
(
soh
-noh les
dyeh
-chee.) (
It's 10:00.
)

Sono le undici.
(
soh
-noh leh
oohn
-dee-chee.) (
It's 11:00.
)

Sono le dodici.
(
soh
-noh leh
doh
-dee-chee.) (
It's 12:00.
)

È mezzogiorno.
(eh
medz
-oh-
johr
-noh.) (
It's noon.
)

È mezzanotte.
(eh
medz
-ah-
noht
-teh.) (
It's midnight.
)

È l'una.
(eh
looh
-nah.) (
It's 1:00.
)

If you're following the 24-hour clock, used for anything official — office hours; train, bus, plane arrivals and departures; or theater opening times — continue counting through
ventiquattro
(vehn-tee-
kwaht
-troh)
(
twenty four
). Thus, 5:00 in the morning remains
le cinque
(leh
cheen
-kweh), but, 5:00 in the afternoon becomes
le diciassette
(leh dee-chahs-
seht
-teh)
(
seventeen
). Another way to make clear the difference between morning and afternoon or evening is to add
di mattina
(dee maht-
tee
-nah) (
morning
) or
del pomeriggio
(dehl poh-meh-
reej
-joh) (
early afternoon
) or
di sera
(dee
seh
-rah) (
evening
). These divisions are somewhat arbitrary:
Mattina
(maht-
tee
-nah) (
morning
) usually lasts until lunch;
pomeriggio
(poh-meh-
reej
-joh) (
afternoon
), until 4:00 or 5:00 p.m.; and
sera
(
seh
-rah) (
evening
), until one goes to bed.

One easy way to convert time is to subtract 12 from it. So 19.00 – 12.00 gives you 7, which is the time on the 12-hour clock.

When times are written numerically, Italian uses a period to separate the hour from the minutes, so the English
2:15
becomes
2.15
.