Read Italian All-in-One For Dummies for Free Online

22.
    Host Mom: Quanto dista casa tua da New York?
    kwahn -toh dee-s tah cah -sah tooh -ah dah New York?
    How far is your house from New York?
    Sarah: Centoventi chilometri più o meno.
    chehn -toh- vehn -tee kee- loh -meh-tree pyooh oh meh -noh.
    120 kilometers, more or less.
    Â 

    Telling Time
    After getting familiar with the numbers in Italian (see the earlier sections in this chapter), you can use them to tell time. For telling time, you need to be able to count to 60.
    To ask the time, you can say, Che ora è? (keh oh -rah eh?) or Che ore sono? (keh oh -reh soh -noh?) ( What hour is it? ) ( What hours? ) For 1:00, noon, or midnight, the answers are È l’una (eh looh- nah), È mezzogiorno (eh medz -oh- johr- noh),and È mezzanotte (eh medz- ah- noht- teh) , respectively. All other hours need sono ( it is ) before the hour(s), as shown in the following examples.
    Che ora è? (keh oh -rah eh?) ( What time is it? )
    Sono le due. ( soh -noh leh dooh -eh.) ( It’s 2:00. )
    Sono le tre. ( soh -noh leh treh.) ( It’s 3:00. )
    Sono le quattro. ( soh -noh leh kwaht -troh.) ( It’s 4:00. )
    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. )
    Ãˆ mezzogiorno. (eh medz -oh- johr -noh.) ( It’s noon. )
    Ãˆ mezzanotte. (eh medz -ah- noht -teh.) ( It’s midnight. )
    Ãˆ 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 .
    Here are a few other considerations to keep in mind when telling time in Italian:
    In general, you add the first 30 minutes of the hour to that hour.
    Sono le due e dieci. ( soh -noh leh dweh eh dyeh -chee.) ( It’s 2:10 .)
    Sono le quattro e venti. ( soh -noh leh kwaht -troh eh vehn -tee.) ( It’s 4:20. )
    You subtract the second half hour’s minutes from the top of the hour.
    Sono le dieci meno venti. ( soh -noh leh dyeh -chee meh -noh vehn -tee.) ( It’s 9:40. ) ( It’s 20 until 10 .)
    Instead of saying quindici ( kween -dee-chee) ( 15 minutes ), you can add on un quarto (oohn kwahr -toh) ( a quarter of an hour ).
    Sono le cinque e un quarto. ( soh -noh leh cheen -kweh eh oohn kwahr -toh.) ( It’s 5:15. )
    When referring to half past the hour, you can say mezzo ( meh -dzoh) ( half ) instead of trenta ( trehn -tah) ( thirty ), although more and more, one hears mezza ( meh -dzah) instead of mezzo ( meh -dzoh), evidently referring to the feminine ora ( oh - rah).
    Ãˆ l’una e mezzo. (eh