Ciao a tutti! At our last Italian conversation night ‘Professor’ Gabriella taught us all about numbers and time. To start, let’s review how to count to 100.
- When -tre is the last digit of a larger number, it takes an accent: ventitrè, trentatrè, quarantatrè
- The numbers venti, trenta, and so on drop the final vowel before adding -uno or -otto: ventuno, ventotto
- The masculine singular definite article is used with years
Now you can answer questions like –
- Quanti anni hai? (How old are you?) Ho trenta anni. (I am 30 years old)
- Che anno è? (What year is it?) E’il 2012. (It’s 2012)
Learning the numbers is also important for being able to ask ‘Che ora è?’ or ‘Che ore sono?’ (What time is it?). To answer this question simply say sono le + number of the hour (example: Sono le tre). You can add the minutes by adding e + minutes (example: Sono le tre e venti).
Un quarto (a quarter) and mezzo (a half) often replace quindici and trenta. Un quarto d’ora and mezz’ora mean a quarter of an hour and half an hour. You can also exchange è mezzogiorno for noon and è mezzanotte for midnight.
And finally, if you want to indicate AM add di matina to the hour. For PM, add del pomeriggio (Noon to 5PM), di sera (5PM to midnight), or di notte (Midnight to early morning).
Looking to practice your Italian? Join us Tuesday, May 8 for our next Italian Speaking Night. For reservations email Andrew. Until next time here is a video showing how to count in Italian. Ciao ciao!
