Italian All-in-One For Dummies (16 page)

Ma il suo onomastico è il 4 novembre.
(mah eel
sooh
-oh oh-noh-
mah
-stee-koh eh eel
kwaht
-troh noh-
vehm
-breh.) (
But his Saint's Day is November 4th.
)

When you make a date or an appointment in Italian, as in English, you want to specify the day, the month, and the date. For example, you may want to fill in your own calendar with appointments as you discover how to say the dates.

Domenica, undici maggio, vado a una festa.
(doh-
meh
-nee-kah,
oohn
-dee-chee
mahj
-joh,
vah
-doh ah
ooh
-nah
feh
-stah.) (
Sunday, May 11th, I'm going to a party.
)

To add a year to a date, put it after the day, number, and month.

giovedì, 4 settembre 1947
(joh-veh-
dee,
kwaht
-troh seht-
tehm
-breh
meel
-leh-noh-veh-
chen
-toh-kwah-rahn-tah-
seht
-the) (
Thursday, September 4, 1947
)

l'undici ottobre 2006
(
loohn
-dee-chee oht-
toh
-breh dooh-eh-
mee
-lah-sey) (
October 11, 2006
)

To place something
in
a specific year, you use the contracted preposition
nel
(
in the
).

Luisa è nata nel 1983.
(looh-
ee
-sah eh
nah
-tah nehl
meel
-leh-noh-veh-
chen
-toht-than-tah-
treh.
) (
Luisa was born in 1983.
)

Generally, you abbreviate dates in the same order you write them. In Italian, that means day/month/year. Sometimes, you may see the month written with a Roman numeral. Also, periods are often used instead of slashes. So you can write December 10, 2012, as

10 dicembre, 2012

10/12/2012
or
10.12.2012

10/XII/2012
or
10.XII.2012

To ask questions about dates, the following expressions may prove useful.

Che giorno è oggi?
(keh
johr
-noh
eh
ohj
-jee?) (
What day is today?
)

E domani?
(eh doh-
mah
-nee?) (
And tomorrow?
)

E ieri?
(eh
yeh
-ree?) (
And yesterday?
)

E l'altro ieri?
(eh
lahl
-troh
yeh
-ree?) (
And the day before yesterday?
)

E dopo domani?
(eh
doh
-poh doh-
mah
-nee?) (
And the day after tomorrow?
)

Quando è il tuo compleanno?
(
kwahn
-doh
eh
eel twoh kohm-pleh-
ahn
-noh?) (
When is your birthday?
)

Talkin' the Talk

Sarah is doing a home stay with an Italian family in Castellaneta. They are getting to know each other. (Track 3)

Host Mom:
Sarah, quanti fratelli hai?

sah
-rah,
kwahn
-tee frah-
tehl
-lee ahy?

Sarah, how many brothers and sisters do you have?

Sarah:
Ho un fratello e due sorelle.

oh oohn
frah
-tehl-loh eh
dweh
soh-
rehl
-leh.

I have one brother and two sisters.

Host Mom:
Quanti anni hanno?

kwahn
-tee
ahn
-nee
ahn
-noh?

How old are they?

Sarah:
Mio fratello David ha dodici anni.

mee
-oh frah-
tehl
-loh David ah
doh
-dee-chee
ahn
-nee.

My brother David is 12.

Mia sorella Rebecca ne ha diciannove, e mia sorella Naomi ne ha 21.

mee-
ah soh-
rehl-
lah Rebecca neh hah
deech
-ahn-
noh
-veh, eh
mee
-ah soh-
rehl
-lah Naomi neh ah vehn-
tooh-
noh.

My sister Rebecca is 19, and my sister Naomi is 21.

Host Mom:
E quando è il tuo compleanno?

eh
kwahn
-doh eh eel
tooh
-oh kohm-pleh-
ahn
-noh?

And when is your birthday?

Sarah:
Il ventidue maggio.

eel
vehn
-tee-
dweh mahj
-joh.

May 22.

Host Mom:
Quanto dista casa tua da New York?

kwahn
-toh
dee-s
tah
cah
-sah
tooh
-ah dah New York?

How far is your house from New York?

Sarah:
Centoventi chilometri più o meno.

chehn
-toh-
vehn
-tee kee-
loh
-meh-tree pyooh oh
meh
-noh.

120 kilometers, more or less.

 

Telling Time

After getting familiar with the numbers in Italian (see the earlier sections in this chapter), you can use them to tell time. For telling time, you need to be able to count to 60.

To ask the time, you can say,
Che ora è?
(keh
oh
-rah eh?) or
Che ore sono?
(keh
oh
-reh
soh
-noh?) (
What hour is it?
) (
What hours?
) For 1:00, noon, or midnight, the answers are
È l'una
(eh
looh-
nah),
È mezzogiorno
(eh
medz
-oh-
johr-
noh),
and
È mezzanotte
(eh
medz-
ah-
noht-
teh)
,
respectively. All other hours need
sono
(
it is
) before the hour(s), as shown in the following examples.

Che ora è?
(keh
oh
-rah eh?) (
What time is it?
)

Sono le due.
(
soh
-noh leh
dooh
-eh.) (
It's 2:00.
)

Sono le tre.
(
soh
-noh leh treh.) (
It's 3:00.
)

Sono le quattro.
(
soh
-noh leh
kwaht
-troh.) (
It's 4:00.
)