{"id":149,"date":"2009-06-21T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2009-06-21T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=149"},"modified":"2009-06-21T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2009-06-21T12:00:25","slug":"talking-about-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/talking-about-the-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking about the time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many people say that we Italians have a different concept of time, and that domani<\/strong> (tomorrow) often means mai<\/strong> (never). This may or may not be accurate, but it is certainly true that concepts of time are expressed quite differently in English and Italian. This is one of the many cases\u00a0in which\u00a0English uses one word to cover many different situations, whilst in Italian, being the poets that we are, we use several different words depending on the context.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tempo<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In Italian, tempo<\/strong> means time, it also means weather, the speed of music, and grammatical \u2018tense\u2019. We use the word tempo<\/strong> to express time in the following ways: tempo fa<\/strong> = some time ago, or\u00a0tanto tempo fa<\/strong> = a long time ago,\u00a0il temporale e\u2019 durato\u00a0molto tempo<\/strong> = the storm lasted a long time, il primo tempo della partita di calcio<\/strong>\u00a0= the first half of the football match, tempo di cottura<\/strong> = cooking time, and that all important resource tempo libero<\/strong> = free time, or leisure time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, and this is where it gets confusing,\u00a0in many of the common everyday constructions involving time we don\u2019t use the word tempo<\/strong> at all. So what do we use instead?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ora<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When talking about the time as measured by the clock we use the word ora<\/strong>, e.g. che ore sono<\/strong>, or che ora e\u2019<\/strong> =what time is it?, a che ora arriva l\u2019autobus per Siena?<\/strong> = what time does the bus for Siena arrive?<\/span><\/p>\n

We also use ora<\/strong> when it is time to do something or for something to happen e.g. e\u2019 ora di partire<\/strong> = it\u2019s time to go, or credo che sia ora di tagliarmi i cappelli<\/strong> = I think it\u2019s time I got my hair cut.<\/span><\/p>\n

Volta<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Volta<\/strong> on the other hand is roughly equivalent to the English word \u2018occasion\u2019 e.g. questa volta ci vado in treno<\/strong> = this time I\u2019m going there by train, or ci sono gia\u2019\u00a0stata\u00a0tre volte<\/strong> = I\u2019ve already been there three times. If you want to say \u2018from time to time\u2019, \u2018every once in a while\u2019\u00a0or \u2018occasionally\u2019 you can use the expression una volta ogni tanto<\/strong>, and to say \u2018two at a time\u2019 (or any other number) you can say due alla volta, cinque alla volta<\/strong>, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are various other situations in which you\u00a0can use the word \u2018time\u2019 in English that require you to use words other that volta<\/strong>, ora<\/strong>, or tempo<\/strong> in Italian.\u00a0For example, where in English you might say\u00a0\u2018to have a nice time\u2019, in Italian we would\u00a0use\u00a0the\u00a0verb\u00a0divertirsi<\/strong> e.g. ti sei divertito\/a<\/strong>? = did you have a nice time? and instead of saying \u2018by the time\u2019 you should use quando<\/strong> e.g. \u2018by the time we arrive it will be dark\u2019 would be quando arriviamo sara\u2019 buio<\/strong>. To say \u2018on time\u2019 we use in orario<\/strong> e.g. il treno e\u2019 in orario?<\/strong> = is the train on time?,\u00a0\u2018behind time\u2019 is in ritardo<\/strong>, and \u2018ahead of time\u2019 in<\/strong> anticipo<\/strong>, so in the unlikely event that your train is 10 minutes ahead of time you would say caspita!<\/strong>\u00a0il treno e\u2019 dieci minuti in anticipo <\/strong>(caspita = wow!).\u00a0Yet another\u00a0word, fra<\/strong>, is used to express the idea of\u00a0\u2018in X amount of time\u2019 e.g. la macchina sara\u2019 pronta fra\u00a0due giorni<\/strong> =\u00a0the car will be ready in two days time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Time vocabulary<\/span><\/p>\n

Infine<\/strong> (finally), here is a useful list of time vocabulary:<\/span><\/p>\n

quando<\/strong> = when<\/span><\/p>\n

adesso<\/strong> = now<\/span><\/p>\n

subito<\/strong>\u00a0= at once\/straight away<\/span><\/p>\n

gia\u2019<\/strong> = already<\/span><\/p>\n

dopo<\/strong> = afterwards<\/span><\/p>\n

poi<\/strong> = then<\/span><\/p>\n

presto<\/strong> = early<\/span><\/p>\n

tardi<\/strong> = late<\/span><\/p>\n

il secondo<\/strong> = the second<\/span><\/p>\n

il minuto<\/strong> = the minute<\/span><\/p>\n

l\u2019ora<\/strong> = the hour, time<\/span><\/p>\n

l\u2019orologio<\/strong> = the clock, watch<\/span><\/p>\n

la sveglia<\/strong> = the alarm clock<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people say that we Italians have a different concept of time, and that domani (tomorrow) often means mai (never). This may or may not be accurate, but it is certainly true that concepts of time are expressed quite differently in English and Italian. This is one of the many cases\u00a0in which\u00a0English uses one word…<\/p>\n

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