what time is it in Esperanto

“What time is it?” in Esperanto is Kioma horo estas? (kee-OH-mah HOH-roh EHS-tahs), literally “which hour is it?”. Hours are counted with ordinal numbers (tria “third”, naŭa “ninth”), so the question word is kiom “how much” plus -a: kioma “which in the row”. You answer with the ordinal: Estas la tria “It’s three o’clock”.

Other ways to say it

• Kioma horo estas nun?What time is it now?
• Kioma horo?What time is it? (short)
• Je kioma horo?At what time?

How to reply

• Estas la tria.It’s three o’clock.
• Estas la sepa kaj duono.It’s half past seven.
• Estas dek kvin minutoj post la tria.It’s a quarter past three.

Example sentences

• Kioma horo estas?What time is it?
• Je kioma horo estas la venonta prezentaĵo?What time is the next performance?

Esperantopedia · Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR

PMEG mentions the slang kiomas? for “What time is it?”, but advises against it in serious situations. To ask when something happens, use je: Je kioma horo? “At what time?”

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