Numbers, prices and the time

Zero to twenty

These are the building blocks, so they’re worth learning by heart. From 11 to 16 the numbers end in -dici (from dieci) with the unit in front: undici, dodici, tredici. From 17 to 19 the order flips and dici- comes first: diciassette, diciotto, diciannove.

Before a noun, uno behaves like the indefinite article: un caffè, una birra. The other numbers never change.

The flip comes between se-dici (16) and dici-assette (17).

The tens, and joining numbers

Twenty is venti; from thirty up the tens end in -anta: trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, settanta, ottanta, novanta. Sessanta (60) and settanta (70) are easy to mix up: sess- sounds like sei, sett- like sette.

For 21 to 99, join the ten and the unit into one word: ventidue, quarantacinque. When the unit starts with a vowel (uno and otto), the ten drops its last vowel: ventuno, ventotto, trentuno. No space, no apostrophe.

Tre alone has no accent, but at the end of a longer number the stress falls on it, so you write -tré: ventitré, trentatré.

Hundreds and thousands

Cento (100) and mille (1000) join up the same way: centoventi (120), duecento (200), milleduecento (1200). Cento never changes, but mille has a plural, -mila: duemila, tremila. Years work the same way: 2026 is duemilaventisei.

Don’t put e between the parts: 120 is centoventi, not cento e venti. Italian writes big numbers with a dot (1.000) where English uses a comma.

Prices in euro

The word euro never changes: un euro, due euro, cento euro. Never euri or euros. Cents are centesimi, but in a price you usually skip that word and add the cents after e: €2,50 is due euro e cinquanta, or simply due e cinquanta.

Notice the decimal comma: Italian writes €2,50 where English writes €2.50. To ask the price, say Quanto costa? for one thing and Quanto costano? for more than one.

What time is it? È l’una, sono le due

Ask Che ore sono? (or Che ora è?). Italian counts the hours as plural, with le standing for le ore: sono le due, sono le tre. One o’clock is the exception: it’s singular, so è l’una.

Noon and midnight are singular too, with no article: è mezzogiorno, è mezzanotte (giorno is day, notte is night). Timetables, shops and stations use the 24-hour clock: sono le diciassette is 17:00.

Minutes: e, meno, un quarto, mezza

Add minutes after the hour with e: le due e dieci (2:10). A quarter is un quarto and half is mezza (mezzo is fine too): le due e un quarto, le due e mezza.

In the last part of the hour, Italians often count back from the next hour with meno (minus): 2:45 is le tre meno un quarto. On timetables you’ll also hear the plain digital way: le due e quarantacinque.

With meno, name the hour that’s coming, not the one that has gone.

At what time? Alle otto

To ask when something happens, say A che ora…? In the answer, a (at) joins the article: alle otto, alle nove e mezza. One o’clock gives all’una, and noon and midnight take plain a: a mezzogiorno.

Keep the two questions apart. Che ore sono? asks the time now (sono le otto); A che ora? asks when (alle otto). For a range, use dalle… alle…: dalle nove alle cinque.

Days of the week

The Italian week starts on Monday: lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, giovedì, venerdì, sabato, domenica. Days are written lowercase, and the five ending in -dì carry an accent on the last syllable. All are masculine except la domenica.

With no article, a day means one particular day, usually the coming one: Lunedì vado a Roma (On Monday I’m going to Rome). With the article it happens every week: il lunedì (on Mondays), il sabato, la domenica.

Common mistakes

• Sono l’una.È l’una.One o’clock is singular, so it takes è.
• È le tre.Sono le tre.From two o’clock on the hours are plural: sono le.
• ventiunoventunoBefore uno and otto, the ten drops its last vowel.
• trentatretrentatréTre at the end of a longer number takes an accent.
• tre euritre euroEuro never changes in the plural.
• a le ottoalle ottoA and le join into one word: alle.
• 6:45 → le sei meno un quartole sette meno un quartoWith meno, count back from the next hour.

Numbers and time at a glance

Join numbers into one word; tell the time with è or sono.

Euro never changes: un euro, dieci euro.

Timetables use 24 hours: sono le diciassette (17:00).

Lunedì is one Monday, usually the next one; il lunedì means every Monday.