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Matteo calls Alex to arrange the evening.
allora is a conversational hinge rather than a word with one meaning. It opens a decision (Allora, ci vediamo alle sette), fills a pause the way English uses "so", and asks for a verdict on its own: Allora? Italians use it constantly, and picking it up early makes your speech sound far less assembled. mezzo is an adjective, so it agrees: le sei e mezza, because the hour is feminine. You will also see e trenta, which is always safe. presto means early, but it also means soon — A presto! is see you soon. The opposite, tardi, is only late. To say something is slow, use lento. finire belongs to a group of -ire verbs that insert -isc- in the present: finisce, capisce, preferisce. Lesson 17 sets them out; for now take finisce as it comes.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. Numbers to sixty
One to twenty are individual words worth learning outright: uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci, undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, venti. After that the tens are venti, trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, and you simply attach the unit: ventidue, trentasei. Two small spelling habits: the ten drops its final vowel before uno and otto (ventuno, ventotto, trentuno), and tre keeps an accent when it ends a longer number — ventitré.
2. Sono le … , but È l'una
Ask with Che ore sono? or, equally correct, Che ora è? The answer is plural almost always, because it is counting hours: Sono le due, sono le sei e mezza — with le because ore, hours, is feminine plural and understood. Three answers are singular: È l'una (one o'clock), È mezzogiorno and È mezzanotte. Minutes past are added with e (le sei e dieci), and minutes to with meno (le sette meno dieci) or the quarter form le sette meno un quarto.
3. A che ora …?
Che ore sono? asks what time it is now. A che ora …? asks when something happens, and the answer takes a plus the article: Alle otto. Alle dieci e mezza. All'una — with the apostrophe, since a + la runs into the vowel of una. The three singular times keep a bare a with no article at all: a mezzogiorno, a mezzanotte. Written Italian uses the 24-hour clock, so a timetable saying 20:30 is spoken as le otto e mezza in ordinary conversation.
4. Prepositions that swallow the article
This is the mechanical part of Italian that repays five minutes of attention. A preposition followed by a definite article fuses into one word. a + il = al, a + la = alla, a + l' = all', a + i = ai, a + le = alle. The same happens to di (del, della, dei), da (dal, dalla), in (nel, nella) and su (sul, sulla). Note that in becomes ne- before fusing: in + il = nel. con and per do not fuse, though col for con il is common in speech. Once you see the pattern, all thirty forms are one rule.
A. Fill in the Blank · Completa
Fill in the blank with the correct word.
- 1.Che ore ?are (the plural used for telling the time)
- 2. l'una e dieci.is (the singular used for one o'clock)
- 3.Il film comincia dieci.at + the (feminine plural)
- 4.Davanti cinema.a + il
B. Multiple Choice · Scegli
Choose the correct Italian.
- 1.How do you say "it's one o'clock"?
- 2.How do you say "it's half past six"?
- 3.Which says "it starts at ten"?
- 4.Which contraction is right for "in front of the cinema"?
C. Word Order · Metti in ordine
Put the words in the right order.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · Vero o falso
Decide whether each statement about the dialogue is true.
- 1.It is half past six.
- 2.The restaurant opens at seven.
- 3.They will meet in front of the cinema.
- 4.The film finishes at midnight.
E. Matching · Abbina
Match each question to the answer that fits it.
F. Translation · Traduci
Translate between Italian and English.
- 1.What time is it?
- 2.It's half past six.
- 3.A che ora comincia il film?
- 4.Davanti al cinema, vicino alla piazza.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 16 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
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Eight o'clock means eight-fifteen, except when it doesn't
Italian social time runs late and loose. A dinner invitation for eight means people arriving around eight-fifteen or eight-thirty, and turning up exactly on time at someone's home can catch the host still dressing. Universities have a formal name for the same habit — il quarto d'ora accademico, the academic quarter hour, the grace period before a lecture actually begins. None of this extends to trains, flights, appointments, exams or work meetings, where lateness is treated as rudeness exactly as it is anywhere else, so the distinction to learn is social versus institutional rather than Italian versus not. The day has its own fixed shape. Lunch is the substantial meal and runs from about one, dinner rarely starts before eight and often closer to nine, and in smaller towns and the south many shops still close from roughly one to four for the riposo, reopening until seven or eight. Aperitivo fills the gap between work and dinner, from about six-thirty: a drink that comes with enough food attached that in Milan the practice grew into apericena, a meal in all but name. And if a restaurant looks empty at seven-thirty, it is not bad — you are simply early.