Italian 3.7. Telling Time & Describing the Weather

Telling the time and describing the weather are fundamental language skills for any language learner including in Italian.

Telling the Time in Italian

In Italian, the verb “essere” (to be) is used in the third-person forms to describe time.

The singular form “è” is used for “one o’clock,” while other hours (from two to twelve o’clock) use the plural form “sono.”

È l’una.	It’s one o’clock.
Sono le tre	It’s three o’clock.
Sono le undici.	It’s eleven o’clock.

To ask what time it is, use the expression: “Che ora è?” or “Che ore sono?” meaning “What time is it?” in English, or more literally: “What hour is it?” or “What hours are they?”, respectively.

To ask “At what time …?”, we use “A che ora …?”

Expressing Minutes

To express time in hours and minutes, we use the conjunction “e” (and).

È l’una e trenta.	It’s one-thirty.
Sono le cinque e ventiquattro.	It’s five twenty-four.

If you want to say: it is minutes to a certain hour, e.g., “It’s five to ten,” use “meno” (minus).

È l’una meno dieci.	It’s ten to one.
Sono le dieci meno cinque.	It’s five to ten.

The “15 minutes” and “30 minutes” can sometimes be replaced with “quarto” (quarter) and “mezzo” or “mezza” (half), respectively.

È l’una meno un quarto.	It’s a quarter to one.
Sono le quattro e mezza.	It’s four-thirty.

Remember that Italians officially use the 24-hour clock format. For example, “1 p.m.” is “le tredici” (13:00) in Italian, whereas midnight is “le ventiquattro” (24:00).

Another minor note is that in Italian a period is used instead of the colon used to describe time in English, e.g., “13.00” (1:00 p.m.).

Other Time Expressions

The expressions “a.m.” and “p.m.” are not commonly used in Italian, but you will hear Italians who tell the time using the twelve-hour clock format adding “di mattina” (in the morning), “del pomeriggio” (in the afternoon), “di sera (in the evening), or “di notte” (at night).

Here are some expressions that are used to express time with examples:

di mattina	in the morning	It’s 9 a.m.	Sono le nove di mattina.
del pomeriggio	in the afternoon	It’s 1 p.m.	È l’una del pomeriggio.
di sera	in the evening	It’s 7 p.m.	Sono le sette di sera.
di notte	at night	It’s 11 p.m.	Sono le undici di notte.
mezzogiorno	noon	It’s noon.	È mezzogiorno.
mezzanotte	midnight	It’s midnight.	È mezzanotte.
all’alba	at dawn	We’ll meet at dawn.	Ci vedremo all’alba.
in punto	sharp	It’s two o’clock sharp.	Sono le due in punto.
precisa, -e	exactly	It’s exactly five o’clock.	Sono le cinque precise.
circa	about	It’s about three o’clock.	Sono circa le tre.

Describing the Weather in Italian

Describing the weather in Italian often involves the use of some idiomatic expressions that make little sense if translated into English literally.

For example, the expression “Fa molto caldo” translates literally to “It makes much heat.” However, it just means that it is too hot. Similarly, the expression “C’è il sole,” which means that the sun is shining, makes little sense when translated literally as “There is the sun.”

Here, we list a few common ways of describing the weather using some of these idiomatic expressions as well as other simple expressions.

Weather Expressions using the verb “fare”

Che tempo fa?	What’s the weather like?
Fa bel tempo.	The weather is good.
Fa brutto tempo.	The weather is bad.
Fa cattivo tempo.	The weather is awful.
Fa (molto) freddo.	It’s (too) cold.
Fa caldo.	It’s hot.
Fa fresco.	It’s cool.

Weather Expressions using the “c’è” and “ci sono”

The expression “c’è” means “there is,” and “ci sono” means “there are.”  Both expressions are used in many weather expressions, such as:

C’è il sole.	The sun is shining.
C’è la luna.	The moon is out.
Ci sono nuvole.	It’s cloudy.
C’è vento.	It’s windy.
C’è nebbia.	It’s foggy.
C’è foschia.	It’s misty.
C’è umidità.	It’s humid.
Ci sono tuoni.	There is lightning.
C’è una tempesta.	There is a windstorm.

Weather Expressions using the verb “essere”

We can also use the verb “essere” in the third-person singular form followed by an adjective to describe the weather.

Com’è il tempo?	How’s the weather?
È caldo.	It’s hot.
È freddo.	It’s cold.
È soleggiato.	It’s sunny.
È nuvoloso.	It’s cloudy.
È sereno.	It is clear.
È piovoso.	It’s rainy.
È ventoso.	It’s windy.
È scuro.	It’s dark.

Weather Expressions using a simple verb

One can also use a simple verb expression in the third-person singular form, such as “piove,” which is the third-person singular form of the present tense of the verb “piovere” (to rain). Other examples include:

Piove.	It’s raining.
Nevica.	It’s snowing.
Pioviggina.	It’s sprinkling.
Grandina.	It’s hailing.
Tuona.	It’s thundering.

Next: Adverbs

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