Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to tell time in Italian and name the days of the week.
Lesson Explanation
Telling time uses essere (Part 1, Lesson 5), and — like Spanish — is singular only for one o’clock, plural otherwise:
È l'una. — It is one o'clock. Sono le due. — It is two o'clock. Sono le tre e mezza. — It is three thirty. Sono le quattro e un quarto. — It is four fifteen. Sono le cinque meno un quarto. — It is a quarter to five.
Days of the week (also not capitalized, like Spanish):
lunedì Monday martedì Tuesday mercoledì Wednesday giovedì Thursday venerdì Friday sabato Saturday domenica Sunday
A genuinely distinctive detail: unlike most Italian nouns, the weekday names Monday through Friday all end in a written accent (-ì) — a historical remnant that has no parallel among Italian’s regular noun-ending patterns from Part 1, Lesson 4.
To say “on” a day, Italian typically uses no preposition at all for a single occurrence, and the definite article for a recurring one — genuinely more minimal than Spanish: Vengo lunedì. (I’m coming on Monday.) vs. Vengo il lunedì. (I come on Mondays, every week.)
Practice Questions
1. Which verb is used to tell time in Italian?
View Answer
Essere.
2. Write “It is one o’clock.”
View Answer
È l’una.
3. Is “è” or “sono” used for two o’clock and beyond?
View Answer
Sono.
4. Write “It is two o’clock.”
View Answer
Sono le due.
5. What phrase expresses the half hour, like “e mezza”?
View Answer
And a half.
6. Are Italian days of the week capitalized?
View Answer
No.
7. Write the Italian word for “Monday.”
View Answer
Lunedì.
8. Write the Italian word for “Sunday.”
View Answer
Domenica.
9. What is genuinely distinctive about the spelling of Monday through Friday?
View Answer
They all end in a written accent, “-ì.”
10. How does Italian say “on Monday” for a single occurrence — with a preposition, or none at all?
View Answer
No preposition at all: “lunedì.”
11. Write “I come on Mondays” (recurring, every week), using the definite article.
View Answer
Vengo il lunedì.
12. Write the Italian word for “Friday.”
View Answer
Venerdì.