Hello friends! I am Beka
and in this new video I'll be talking about how do we ask and tell time in Italian!
The first thing I'd like to say is that in Italy is used 24-hour clock system.
We have 24-hour clock system in Georgia too, but in Georgian when it's 15:00 we often say that it's 3 o'clock,
while in Italy they often say "sono le 15" and not "sono le 3",
and this applies to other numbers too.
So the first detail I'd like to underline is that in Italy you often see people using 24-hour clock system.
Of course, we also have who uses 12-hour clock system and that's completely normal, it's not a mistake,
but when they do use this system, they often specify which part of the day they're talking about,
for example, when they mean 20:00 when using 12-hour clock system, they say "sono le 8 di sera"
specifying that they mean 8 o'clock in the evening,
or "sono le 11 di notte" (23:00) specifying that they mean 11 o'clock at night.
So when we use 12-hour clock system I'd recommend you to specify which part of the day you're referring to:
mattina (morning), pomeriggio (afternoon), sera (evening) and notte (night).
So, now I'll explain how to ask and tell time in Italian
and then I'll make some examples from both 24-hour and 12-hour clock system
so that it will be easier to understand each of them and to understand the difference between them.
First thing, obviously, is to learn how to ask what time is it. In Italian there are two most common ways to do it:
the first one is in singular: "che ora è?"
and the second one is in plural: "che ore sono?"
Both of these versions mean "what time is it?" and both are correct, but "che ore sono?" is more common,
since it's plural and in the most of the times the answer is also plural.
I repeat: saying "che ora è?" Isn't a mistake, but since the other version is more common
and you have to learn just one phrase, I'd recommend to learn the plural version: "che ore sono?".
Now let me tell you how answer to these two questions!
As I said, in the most of the cases the answer is in plural and only in 3 cases we use singular form to say time,
and this is when it's 1 o'clock (or 13, I'll get into in in a minute), when it's midday and when it's midnight.
Only n this cases we have to answer in singular, like "è l'una" (it's 1 o'clock),
or "è mezzogiorno" (it's midday) or "è mezzanotte" (it's midnight).
In all other cases we use plural "sono le..." when saying what time is it.
So the formula is that we say "sono le..." and then we say the numbers,
for example: "sono le tredici" (which means "it's 13 o'clock" in Italian since there's 24-hour clock system)
or "sono le 18" (meaning "it's 18 o'clock" (6:00 p.m.))
or "sono le 20" (meaning "it's 20 o'clock" (8:00 p.m.)) etc.
In short, the formula is the plural: "sono le..." and then we say the number.
Now we'll talk about minutes.
When we have numbers up to 40, we say the number of the current hour + minutes,
for example: to say "it's 14:20" (2:20 p.m.) we say "sono le quattordici (14) e venti (20)",
to say "it's 14:10" (2:10 p.m.) we say "sono le 14 e 10",
to say "it's 20:35" (8:35 p.m.) we say " sono le 20 e 35" and so on.
But there are a few exceptions, such as 15 minutes. Even if we can say "sono le 20 e 15 (quindici),
more common way to say it is to use "un quarto" (a quarter), so we more often say "sono le 20 e un quarto".
I repeat, it is also correct to say "quindici", but it is more common to use "un quarto",
so most of the Italians say "sono le 20 e un quarto" and not "sono le 20 e quindici", even though both are correct.
For the numbers (minutes) starting from 40, we can use this rule or apply another, more common rule,
which is to say the following hour and then say the number of minutes left to the following hour,
for example, before I said "sono le 20 e 35" to say "it's 20:35" (8:35 p.m.),
but if I want to say "it's 20:45" (8:45 p.m.), I can say "sono le 20 e 45"
or I can also say "sono le  9 (21) meno un quarto" meaning "it's quarter to 9".
So, in the first case when we have numbers (minutes) below 40 the formula is that
we say the number for hour followed by the number for minutes,
for example: "sono le 20 e 20" (it's 20:20/8:20 p.m.).
In the second case when we have numbers (minutes) above 40 the formula is that we say
the number of the following hour, then "meno", followed by the number of the minutes left to the following hour,
for example, "sono le (9) 21 meno un quarto" meaning "it's quarter to 9" (20:45/8:45 p.m.).
You can also say "sono le 9 meno quindici" and it's correct, but "un quarto" is more common.
And this formula applies to every number, for example: "sono le 18 meno 20" (it's quarter to 6 (17:40/5:40 p.m).
So when we have numbers above 40, we can use this formula to say what time is it.
For example, "sono le 19 meno 5" (it's 5 to 7 (18:55/6:55 p.m).
As I said, when we need to say 15 minutes (quindici), we can also use "un quarto" which is more common.
For example, we can say "sono le 10 e un quarto" (it's quarter past 10 (10:15/10:15 a.m)
and we can also say "sono le 10 meno un quarto" (it's quarter to 10 (09:45/9:45 a.m).
You can also say "quindici" (15) instead of "un quarto" (a quarter) as it isn't a mistake,
but more common is to use "un quarto", I want this to be very clear.
All of this is the same in the three cases when we have singular forms,
which are "è l'una, è mezzogiorno, è mezzanotte", so we can say "è l'una e un quarto",
or "è l'una e 5", "è l'una e 20", or "è mezzogiorno e 20", "è mezzanotte e 10" etc.
But what changes is that we don't use the "le" article, because we have these nouns in singular,
while the article "le" is for plural nouns, therefore, we say "è l'una, è mezzanotte, è mezzogiorno" and so on.
Now let me talk about the "mezzo/mezza" (half) which is very confusing and is very discussed.
I said in my latest video that this is one of the most common mistakes Italians make,
because they say "mezza", like "l'una e mezza, le 2 e mezza, le 10 e mezza" etc. which is a mistake,
because the correct way is to use "mezzo", like "l'una e mezzo, le 2 e mezzo, le 10 e mezzo" and I'll explain why!
As I said, I mentioned this topic in my latest video too, but I didn't get into the details,
because I thought it would be better to talk about it in this video since today I'm talking about the time.
So, "mezzo" means "half" and when it stands before nouns and has the adjective function,
and f we have feminine nouns "mezzo" has to concord in gender with this nouns
and therefore it becomes feminine too, "mezza".
For example: "mezza mela" (half an apple), "mezzaluna" (Crescent moon) etc.
In short, if we have "mezzo" before noun and it has the adjective function,
we have to concord it with noun's gender and number.
But if "mezzo" comes after noun, adjective or part participle and it has the adverb function,
in most of the cases it remains invariable.
Therefore, the correct way to say it when telling time is to say "sono le 7 e mezzo, sono le 5 e mezzo" etc
because in this case it has the adverb function and we don't have to concord it with noun's gender and number.
Once again: when "mezzo" has the adjective function, it changes depending on nouns' gender and number,
but when it has the adverb function it should remain in the most of the cases.
So we have to say "le 7 e mezzo" and NOT "le 7 e mezza".
One exception when we can say "mezza" in this case is when we say "in half an hour" - "tra mezz'ora".
For example, we can say "ci vediamo tra mezz'ora" which means "see you in half an hour",
but in this case too you can see that "mezza" precedes the noun following the rule I just finished to explain.
Because the rule is that "mezzo" can change its gender and number when it stands before nouns,
but if it comes after noun and has the adverb function, it rarely changes its gender and number.
So we have to say "l'una e mezzo" (half past one), "mezzogiorno e mezzo" (half past noon),
"le cinque e mezzo" (half past five) and so on.
Now it's time to make some examples to make easier to understand how to use 24-hour clock system
and 12-hour clock system, and to understand the differences between the two.
I'll remind you that 24-hour clock system is when we use numbers up to 24,
while 12-hour clock system is when we use numbers up to 12 and we often specify the period of the day.
So, if we're talking about 01:00/1:00 p.m. in 24-hour clock system we say "sono le 13" (it's 13 o'clock),
but in 12-hour clock system we say "è l'una di pomeriggio" (it's one in the afternoon).
If we don't specify, it could mean 1:00 a.m. too!
Another example: "sono le 8 di sera" (it's 8 in the evening), this is 12-hour clock system,
because we specify that we're talking about 8 o'clock in the evening and not in the morning,
while in 24-hour clock system we say "sono le 20" (it's 20 o'clock).
Or we can say "sono le 11 di notte" (it's 11 at night), and that's 12-hour clock system,
while in 24-hour clock system we say "sono le 23" (it's 23 o'clock).
So, the key is to remember which system would you like to use, because if you use 12-hour clock system,
you'll often need to specify which period of the day you're talking about.
Of course, the person you're talking to will understand what do you mean even if you won't specify it,
as he/she can see if it's day or night, but my advice is to specify the period of the day you're talking about.
For example, when we in 24-hour clock system say "sono le 20 e mezzo" (half past 20),
but when using 12-hour clock system we have to specify
and say "sono le 8 e mezzo di sera" (it's half past 8 in the evening).
Or "sono le 11 e mezzo di notte" (it's half past 11 at night).
So, my advice is to try to specify which period of the day you're talking about when using 12-hour clock system.
Since we're talking about how to tell time, I'd like to mention one more phrase/formula,
and that is "a che ora?" meaning "at what time?", and then we ask whatever we'd like to do at that time.
For example, "a che ora ci vediamo?" (at what time we're going to meet?)
"a che ora inizia la partita?" (at what time does the game starts?).
So, when you're going to ask "at what time?" use this "a che ora?" + whatever we need to do formula.
Answer to this question is "alle..." (at...) and then whatever clock it is.
For example, "alle 9" (at 9), "alle 21 (at 21/9 p.m.)
"alle 16" (at 16/4 p.m.) etc.
In short, we have the question "a che ora?" (at what time?) and we answer it by saying "alle..." (at...).
In this case too we have three exceptions, which are 1 o'clock, midday and midnight,
because we say "all'una" (at one o'clock),"a mezzogiorno" (at midday) and "a mezzanotte" (at midnight).
So make a summary, the question is "a che ora?" meaning "at what time?"
are we going to do something, like watch a movie, go outside, play football etc.
and the answer to it is "alle..." meaning "at..." like "alle 9, alle 20, alle 8, alle 16" meaning "at 9, at 20, at 8, at 16".
Exceptions when we don't use "alle" is when we have 1 o'clock, because we say "all'una",
and when we have midday and midnight because we say "a mezzogiorno" and "a mezzanotte".
When we have 15 minutes and 30 minutes, we can say it like that (so quindici (15) and trenta (30),
but it's more common to use "un quarto" instead of 15 minutes and "mezzo" instead of 30 minutes.
It is also correct to say quindici (15) and trenta (30), it's just less common than "un quarto" and "mezzo".
When having numbers (minutes) after 40, we can say the following hour, "meno" and minutes left to that hour,
for example "sono le 21 meno 20" (it's 20 to 21/20 to 9 p.m.).
Of course, in this case too we have to know we're using 24-hour clock system or 12-hour clock system.
If we use the 24-hour clock system, we don't need to specify the period of the day,
but if we use the 12-hour clock system we need to specify the period of the day we're talking about.
For example, if we say "sono le 9 meno un quarto" but we mean 9 p.m. we need to specify it
and say "sono le 9 meno un quarto di sera" (it's quarter to 9 in the evening).
But if we mean 9 a.m then we have to specify it too and say "sono le 9 meno un quarto di mattina"
meaning "it's quarter to 9 in the morning".
This rule applies to every other number, of course.
I think that's all for today's video, because in my opinion I mentioned all the important details
you need to know about how to ask and tell time.
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Of course, if something's not clear let me know in the comments and I'll try to explain it in a better way.
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