- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "Does somebody know what time…
"Does somebody know what time it is?"
Translation:Qualcuna sa che ora è?
50 Comments
1178
I think there are two reasons.
-
While they do use the concept of counting hours in stead of just time as in English it is only at 1 o'clock you can use the singular form, - all other times it's le ore.
-
As time is an uncountable noun, just like sand, love and water it makes perfect sense to ask for the time in English, - but as hours are countable you would rather ask how many are they.
What time is it? = Che ore sono?
If you would say "Someone know the hour?" you would probably be understood, - but also identified as a foreigner.
738
Another exercise is Porto sempre un orologio per sapere l'ora, see https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/164858
1178
There are several problems with this statement, it is a bit lika saying
Know somebody how many hours are
Does somebody know = Qualcuno/-a sa
what time it is = what hour it is = che ora è
507
Is "Sa qualcuno che ora è?" a male kind to speak? And is "Qualcuna sa che ora è?" a female kind to speak? Am I right? And if I am not would someone help me to understand why? (I hope my English is not too bad to express my problem.)
738
It is not at all related to the speaker's gender.
qualcuno is anybody without referring to a specific gender.
Maybe you can say qualcuna if you are speaking to several women, but as an amateur learner of Italian I am not sure.
234
Ore is more or less the "o'clock" of the Italian language. It also means "hour" as in "it takes 3 hours to get there" (Ci vuole 3 ore per andare lì). It can also mean "now" : "Quando se non ora ?" ("When if not now?") and is used in the expression "Non vedo l'ora [di ...]" : "I can't wait [to ...]". When you talk about the time on a clock, always use ore. Tempo is more abstract, it could mean "weather" (Che bel tempo !), the time it takes to do something (Quanto tempo ci vuole per arrivare ?), "epoch" : (Inquesti tempi, la gente non faceva così) ("In those times, people didn't do that"), and is used in this expression : "Poco tempo fa", "Some time ago".
916
If so, I can't imagine why. We've all got time enough to cry.
(I suspect your downvoters are too young to know those lyrics.)