# How late? / What time is it?



## SerinusCanaria3075

How do you ask for time in your language?

In Spanish it depends on the hour (whether it's plural o not):

*One* o'clock (singular):
Question: ¿_Qué hora *es*_? 
(Answer: _*Es* la una_. / _La una_.)

*Two* and above:
Question: ¿_Qué horas *son*_?
(Answer: _*Son* las dos_. / _Las dos_.)

Actually, you can use _either one_ _to_ _ask_ but when you answer the verb must agree with the number of hours, unless you simply use the article plus number.


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## theo1006

Hi Serinus,

In Dutch we say: _Hoe laat is het?_, litteraly How late is it?

In Indonesian: _Jam berapa?_ or _Pukul berapa?_

Theo


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## Kangy

SerinusCanaria3075 said:


> How do you ask for time in your language?
> 
> In Spanish it depends on the hour (whether it's plural o not):
> 
> *One* o'clock (singular):
> Question: ¿_Qué hora *es*_?
> (Answer: _*Es* la una_. / _La una_.)
> 
> *Two* and above:
> Question: ¿_Qué horas *son*_?
> (Answer: _*Son* las dos_. / _Las dos_.)
> 
> Actually, you can use _either one_ _to_ _ask_ but when you answer the verb must agree with the number of hours, unless you simply use the article plus number.



It's not uncommon, but it's considered incorrect to ask *¿Qué horas son?*. The question should always be singular. The answer can be either singular (when it's 1) or plural (when it's any other time).

Thus:

*¿Qué hora es?* would be the way to correctly ask for the time in Spanish.


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## SerinusCanaria3075

Kangy said:


> It's not uncommon, but it's considered incorrect to ask *¿Qué horas son?*. The question should always be singular. The answer can be either singular (when it's 1) or plural (when it's any other time).
> 
> Thus:
> 
> *¿Qué hora es?* would be the way to correctly ask for the time in Spanish.


_Bueno_...

According to the "Academia":


> *hora2*. *1.* Es la indicación del momento en que sucede o se hace una cosa en relación con cada una de las veinticuatro partes en que se divide el día. La pregunta que corresponde a la indicación de la hora se formula, en la *lengua general culta, en singular*: _¿Qué hora es?_ Su formulación *en plural* (_¿Qué horas son?_) *es admisible, aunque menos recomendable*, y se da con cierta frecuencia en algunos países de América, especialmente en el nivel popular: _«_—_¿Qué horas son, compa? _


It's acceptable but not recommended. I guess we can call the plural form "colloquial" or "informal".

Anyway, I found the Sicilian one:
_*Chi ura sunnu*_? = What time is it (plural)?


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## Shiu

In Chinese (Mandarin):
請問現在幾點？
(quing3 wen4 xian4 zai4 ji3 dian3 ?)


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## Consimmer

theo1006 said:


> ...In Indonesian: _Jam berapa?_ or _Pukul berapa?_



As in Malay, too. _Jam _is "hour" or "clock", while _pukul _is "strike". So the literal translation of the phrase is "What hour is it?" 

The concept of time instead uses the word _masa_, while "time of..." as in "time of sunset" would use _waktu._


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## Stéphane89

In French, we can say _'Quelle heure est-il ?'_ (formal and grammatically correct) or _'Quelle heure il est ?'_ or _'Il est quelle heure ?'_ (more common).


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## wordiana

In Serbian, we say "Koliko je sati?" 
"koliko" means "how much",
"je" means "is",
and "sat" means "hour".
You pronounce it the same way you write it.
In Serbian, "j" is pronounced like "y" in "you".


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## tie-break

Italian : che ore sono?


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## kiyama

Catalan: Quina hora és?


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## Mjolnir

*Hebrew*: מה השעה? Pronounced "Ma Hasha'a".
Literally means "what is the hour?".​


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## DrWatson

Finnish: *Paljonko kello on?* (lit. How much is the clock?)


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## Didier69

Swedish : Vad är klockan ?


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## Nizo

Esperanto:

_Kioma horo estas?_
_Kiomas?_ (very informally)


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## sam1978

tie-break said:


> Italian : che ore sono?



Also: Che ora è?


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## jazyk

In Portuguese I've never heard the plural, so:

Que horas são? 

is what I recommend.


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## solecita

IIn spanish you just say "que hora es?" because in this context, the word for "time" (hora) is singular no matter if the hour is singular (1 o'clock for example) or plural (10 o'clock). But, when you answer, you do have to pay attention to number of the hour: 
que hora es? es la una  (because una is singular) // son las dos (because dos is plural).
Anyway, the answer will always be singular.
Well, I hope you understand...


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## SerinusCanaria3075

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese I've never heard the *plural*, so:
> 
> Que horas são?
> 
> is what I recommend.


I'm sorry _jazyk_, I'm a bit confused. What's the formal way to ask time in Portuguese?

_Que hora é_? or 
_Que horas são_?


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## Outsider

_Que horas são?_ is the normal way to ask the question. I can't recall ever hearing _Que hora é?_


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## Abbassupreme

In Persian:
Sâ'ate cande?
LITERALLY "The hour how much is?"


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## OldAvatar

Romanian:
_Cât e ceasul?_
or
_Cât e ora?_


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian: Koliko je ura?

Croatian:  Koliko je sati?

German:   Wie spät ist es?


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## jazyk

Serinus, it is Que horas são, as Outsider pointed out. For some unfathomable reason I substituted _plural_ for _singular_ in my post.


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## spakh

Turkish,

Saat kaç?


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## avok

StefKE said:


> In French, we can say _'Quelle heure est-il ?'_ (formal and grammatically correct) or _'Quelle heure il est ?'_ or _'Il est quelle heure ?'_ (more common).


 The one I usually heard is " t'as l'heure par hasard?"


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## Zsanna

avok said:


> The one I usually heard is " t'as l'heure par hasard?"


 
It works without the "par hasard", too!  Even if not very elegant...

In Hungarian:
Hány óra van? (= _How many/much hour is_?)
or 
Mennyi az idő? (=_ How many/much the time_?)

There is a funny (though not too intellectual) way that I can think of which is probably a sort of a mixture of the two:
Hány az óra? (= _How many/much the hour_?)


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## liblikas

Estonian:

mis kell on?

(what clock it is, literally...)


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## papillon

Russian:
Который час? Kotoriy chas - Literally: Which (is the) hour?


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## mimi2

Vietnamese:
"Bây giờ là mấy giờ?"


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## kusurija

In Czech:
Kolik je hodin? (liter.: howmuch/many-is-hours)
Answer: Jedna/(Je) jedna hodina (odpoledne) (1 o'clock P.M.) 
_hodina - sg.NOM._
Dvě/Jsou dvě hodiny (2.00 P.M.) -"-: 3,4 _hodiny - pl. NOM._
Pět/je pět hodin (5.00 A.M/P.M.) -"-: 6,7,8,9,10,11,12  _hodin - pl. GEN._

In Lithuanian:
Kiek valandų? (liter.: howmuch/many-is-hours)
Answer: (Dabar yra) Pirma valanda. (liter.: (Now-is-) First hour)

日本語 (in Japanese):
(今は) 何時ですか. [(ima wa) nanji desu ka]


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## celestia04

Tagalog: Anong oras na?


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## macta123

In Hindi : Samay (Time ) kya hua hai ?
In Malayalam  : Samayam entayi ? ; Entayi samayam ?


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## bstawy

arabic - kam alsaa'a?
hindi - samay kitney  hai ?


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## Zsuzsu

Mongolian:
Хэдэн цаг болж байна? (Kheden cag bolzh baina?=How many hours is becoming)
Цаг хэд болж байна? (Cag khed bolzh baina?)


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## jaapani_lendorav

Estonian:
Mis kell on? (What clock is?) = What's the time?
Kell on üks. (Clock is one) = It's one o`clock.


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## Scherle

Pampango: (dialect in the Philippines)

Nanu ng oras? (What time is it?)


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## Wilma_Sweden

Didier69 said:


> Swedish : Vad är klockan ?


= What is the clock?

The other Swedish expression is:

Hur mycket är klockan? = How much is the clock? 

(I was surprised to see that Finnish uses the same construction, although the languages are totally unrelated!)

/Wilma


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## dinji

DrWatson said:


> Finnish: *Paljonko kello on?* (lit. How much is the clock?)


You also hear *Mitä kello on?* 'What is the watch/clock'. Compare this to Estonian.


Wilma_Sweden said:


> = What is the clock?
> 
> The other Swedish expression is:
> 
> Hur mycket är klockan? = How much is the clock?
> 
> (I was surprised to see that Finnish uses the same construction, although the languages are totally unrelated!)
> 
> /Wilma


This is a typical case where langauges may interfere semantically, although they aren't _genetically_ related. Finnish frequently has a litteral translation for many Swedish idioms.

One curiosity: *kello* 'watch/clock' is a borrowing from an older form of Swedish _*skälla*_ 'bell', may be Proto-Norse **skello:n* (or a later oblique inclination **skjällo*).


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## Wilma_Sweden

dinji said:


> This is a typical case where langauges may interfere semantically, although they aren't _genetically_ related. Finnish frequently has a litteral translation for many Swedish idioms.


I guessed this was Swedish influence, but didn't want to assume it just like that..



> One curiosity: *kello* 'watch/clock' is a borrowing from an older form of Swedish _*skälla*_ 'bell', may be Proto-Norse **skello:n* (or a later oblique inclination **skjällo*).


It's possible, my dictionary only goes back to old Swedish skälla. The word is still in use, mainly as cowbell, so if we translate the phrase back to English, we get "How plenty is the [cow]bell"... 

/Wilma


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## Orreaga

*Basque/Euskera:*
Zer ordu da?


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## pacha18

In French: Quelle heure est-li?
In German:Wie spät ist es?
In Irish: Cén t-am é?


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## Anatoli

bstawy said:


> arabic - kam alsaa'a?
> hindi - samay kitney  hai ?


*Arabic*: كم الساعة؟ (kam as-saa3a?)

*Hindi*: कितने बजे हैं? (kitnē bajē h͠ai?), समय क्या है? (samay kyā hai?)

*Korean*: 지금 몇 시입니까? (jigeum myeot siimnigga?), 지금 몇 시예요? (jigeum myeot siyeyo?)

*Greek*: τι ώρα είναι; (ti óra ínai?) (*;* = *?* in Greek)

*Persian (Farsi)*: ساعت چند است؟ (sâ'at čand ast?)

What's *Urdu*?


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## Awwal12

papillon said:


> Russian:
> Который час? Kotoriy chas - Literally: Which (is the) hour?


I would add probably even more popular Russian expression:
Сколько времени? /skol'ko vremeni/ - literally: "How much time?"


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## HUMBERT0

In Spanish there is another way to ask for the time.
¿Qué hora tiene(s)? Literally, What time do you have?
I remember when my brother was growing up he would ask ¿Cuál hora es?/Which hour is it? and it sounded unusual to my ears, now he uses "Que/What" instead, kids!.


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## XiaoRoel

En galego:
*Que horas son?
Que hora ven sendo?
Que hora tes?
Que hora é?*


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## OneStroke

Chinese: 幾點 (ji dian)? (How many hours?) 點 is only used in after a number to refer to hour. It comes from an old system of counting time. There are five dians in a geng.


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## ThomasK

How do you ask for the time in your language? It is funny, but we can say: how late is it? (As if a lot of time, too much time, has passed already?)


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## ancalimon

Turkish:

Saat kaç? : How many is the hour?


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## franknagy

Hungarian:
Hány óra van?

Hány=how many, óra=hour, van=is.


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## arielipi

in hebrew we ask what hour it is (now)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

*«Τι ώρα είναι;»* 
[ti 'ora 'ine?]
_"what hour is it?"_


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## ThomasK

Can anyone translate these (literally) ? 


bstawy said:


> arabic - kam alsaa'a?
> hindi - samay kitney  hai ?


Dutch and German seem to be the only ones that ask "How late is it?" Strange...


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