Time and Dates in Italian

Overview

Telling time, naming days and months, and expressing dates are essential skills you will use from the very first days of learning Italian. Whether you are catching a train, scheduling a meeting, or simply asking what time it is, these structures come up constantly in daily life.

At the A1 level, you need to know how to ask and answer questions about time, list the days of the week and months of the year, and read or say a date. Italian handles these topics a bit differently from English: time uses the feminine definite article (because the implied noun is ora, "hour"), days of the week take the definite article to express habitual actions, and dates put the day before the month. Once you learn the patterns, they are remarkably consistent.

This concept builds directly on Cardinal Numbers. Having a solid grasp of numbers 1–31 (for days) and 1–24 (for hours) will make everything here much easier.

How It Works

Telling Time

To ask the time, say:

• Che ore sono? — What time is it? (literally "What hours are they?")
• Che ora è? — What time is it? (less common, but correct)

For one o'clock, use the singular verb è and the singular article l':

• È l'una. — It is one o'clock.

For all other hours, use the plural verb sono and the plural article le:

• Sono le due. — It is two o'clock.
• Sono le dieci. — It is ten o'clock.

To add minutes, use e (and):

• Sono le tre e venti. — It is 3:20.
• È l'una e dieci. — It is 1:10.

Special time expressions:

Italian	English
e un quarto	and a quarter (15 min)
e mezza / e mezzo	and a half (30 min)
meno un quarto	minus a quarter (45 min, i.e. quarter to)
mezzogiorno	noon
mezzanotte	midnight

Examples:

• Sono le quattro e mezza. — It is half past four.
• Sono le sei meno un quarto. — It is a quarter to six (5:45).
• È mezzogiorno. — It is noon.

In formal contexts (train schedules, TV listings, offices), Italy uses the 24-hour clock:

• Sono le quindici e trenta. — It is 15:30.
• Sono le venti. — It is 20:00.

To ask "at what time," use a che ora:

• A che ora parti? — What time do you leave?
• Alle tre. — At three o'clock. (a + le contracts to alle)
• All'una. — At one o'clock. (a + l' contracts to all')

Days of the Week

Italian	English
lunedì	Monday
martedì	Tuesday
mercoledì	Wednesday
giovedì	Thursday
venerdì	Friday
sabato	Saturday
domenica	Sunday

Key points:

• Days are not capitalized in Italian (unless at the start of a sentence).
• Days ending in -ì are masculine. Sabato is masculine and domenica is feminine.
• To say "on Monday" (a specific day), just use the day name alone: Parto lunedì. (I leave on Monday.)
• To express a habitual action ("on Mondays" / "every Monday"), add the definite article il: Il lunedì vado in palestra. (On Mondays I go to the gym.)
• For domenica, the habitual article is la: La domenica dormo fino a tardi. (On Sundays I sleep late.)

Months of the Year

Italian	English
gennaio	January
febbraio	February
marzo	March
aprile	April
maggio	May
giugno	June
luglio	July
agosto	August
settembre	September
ottobre	October
novembre	November
dicembre	December

Like days, months are not capitalized in Italian. To say "in January," use a or in: a gennaio / in gennaio.

Expressing Dates

Italian dates follow the pattern article + day number + month (+ year):

• il 15 agosto — August 15th (literally "the 15 August")
• il 3 marzo 2025 — March 3rd, 2025

The first day of the month uses the ordinal number primo:

• il primo gennaio — January 1st

All other days use cardinal numbers (due, tre, quattro…).

To ask the date:

• Che giorno è oggi? — What day is it today?
• Quanti ne abbiamo oggi? — What is the date today? (literally "How many of them do we have today?")
• Oggi è il 10 aprile. — Today is April 10th.

Examples in Context

Italian	English	Note
Che ore sono? — Sono le tre e mezza.	What time is it? — It is half past three.	Common way to ask/tell time
Il treno parte alle sette e un quarto.	The train leaves at a quarter past seven.	alle = a + le (contraction)
A che ora parti? — All'una.	What time do you leave? — At one o'clock.	all' = a + l' (contraction)
È mezzanotte.	It is midnight.	No article needed
Il lunedì lavoro da casa.	On Mondays I work from home.	Article = habitual action
Ci vediamo sabato.	See you on Saturday.	No article = specific occasion
Il mio compleanno è il 22 settembre.	My birthday is September 22nd.	Day before month
Oggi è il primo maggio.	Today is May 1st.	primo for the 1st of the month
Sono le venti e quarantacinque.	It is 20:45.	24-hour clock
La domenica andiamo al mare.	On Sundays we go to the sea.	la for feminine domenica
Il concerto è venerdì alle nove di sera.	The concert is on Friday at nine in the evening.	Combining day and time
Siamo nati nel 1995.	We were born in 1995.	nel = in + il
In Italia le scuole chiudono a giugno.	In Italy schools close in June.	a + month

Common Mistakes

Using "sono" for one o'clock

• Wrong: Sono l'una.
• Right: È l'una.
• Why: One o'clock is singular, so you use è (is), not sono (are). All other hours use sono le…

Forgetting the article for habitual days

• Wrong: Lunedì vado in palestra. (meaning every Monday)
• Right: Il lunedì vado in palestra.
• Why: Without the article, lunedì means "this coming Monday" (a single event). Adding il makes it habitual — "every Monday."

Putting the month before the day

• Wrong: agosto 15 or il agosto 15
• Right: il 15 agosto
• Why: Italian dates always put the day number first, then the month. This is the opposite of American English date order.

Using ordinal numbers for all dates

• Wrong: il secondo marzo, il terzo aprile
• Right: il due marzo, il tre aprile
• Why: Only the first day of the month uses an ordinal (il primo). All other dates use cardinal numbers.

Saying "dodici e trenta" for 12:30 PM

• Wrong: Sono le dodici e trenta. (when you mean noon)
• Right: È mezzogiorno e mezzo. (more natural)
• Why: While not grammatically wrong, Italians strongly prefer mezzogiorno for noon and mezzanotte for midnight. Using the number form sounds mechanical.

Practice Tips

1. Narrate your day with times. Every morning, describe your schedule in Italian: Mi sveglio alle sette. Faccio colazione alle sette e mezza. Esco alle otto. This builds the habit of pairing activities with time expressions naturally.

2. Learn the days and months through your calendar. Switch your phone or computer calendar to Italian. Seeing mercoledì 12 marzo every day reinforces both day names and the Italian date format without extra study effort.

3. Practice the habitual vs. specific distinction. Throughout the week, make sentences about your routines using il + day and compare them with one-time plans using the bare day name. For example: Il martedì studio italiano (Every Tuesday I study Italian) vs. Martedì vado dal dentista (This Tuesday I go to the dentist).

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Cardinal Numbers — you need numbers to tell time and say dates
• Related: Ordinal Numbers — used for "il primo" (the first) in dates
• Related: Definite Articles — the articles il, le, and l' are central to time and date expressions