Why is it “Wie viel Uhr ist es?” when Uhr is feminine?

[prehx]

Why is it “Wie viel Uhr ist es?” when Uhr is feminine? Or am I wrong and the "it" part of the sentence doesn't have to take the gender of the subject? For another example, would "Sie ist klein" be a correct translation for "It is small" if the "it" is feminine (e.g. die Katze, die Tasche, etc.)?

Thanks

[birgit72635]

Try to think of the answer you would get.: "Es ist fünf Uhr." It is the same in English as you can say: It it five o'clock.

Another example is: Wie viel Eis hast du? = How much ice cream do you have? You can see the subject du doesn't refer to "ice cream".

[Andu444]

If you were asking how many clocks there are then it would be 'wie viele Uhren sind es', so it wouldn't matter if it's feminine or masculine since it's plural. But since you are asking for the time it is 'wie viel Uhr ist es'. I guess it's a bit like the difference between clock and o'clock, both are Uhr in German.

[gatiquo]

Is it ... Use 'ist es" It does not matter that Uhr is feminine.