The word tempo can have different meanings and can be used in several expressions. Let’s see all of them.

Tempo: Time

The first meaning of the word tempo is time.

We can complain about how fast time goes by:

• Il tempo vola!: Time flies!
• Come passa il tempo!: Where did the time go?

or we can complain about how time flows slowly when we are bored:

• Qui a scuola il tempo non passa mai: Here at school time drags.

Sometimes we are so busy that we don’t even realize that time is passing by:

• Scusami per il ritardo, ma stavo parlando al telefono con Mario e ho perso la cognizione del tempo: Sorry for being late, but I was talking on the phone with Mario and I lost track of time.

We can use this word to talk about duration:

• Qui è il capitano che vi parla. Il tempo di volo oggi è di due ore e cinquanta minuti: This is the captain speaking. Flight time today is two hours and fifty minutes.
• Ci vogliono due giorni di tempo per finire questo lavoro: It takes two days to finish this job.
• Siamo stati fuori casa per un’ora e in quell’intervallo di tempo, qualcuno è entrato nel nostro appartamento: We were away from home for an hour and in that interval, someone broke into our apartment.
• Credo che lascerò il paese per qualche tempo: I think I will leave the country for a while.
• È da tanto tempo che volevo vedere questo film: I’ve been wanting to see this film for a long time.
• Quanto tempo resti in città?: How long will you be staying in town?

When we want to specify that something took or will take some time to happen, we use the expression col tempo or nel tempo:

• Non ti preoccupare se l’italiano ti sembra difficile adesso, perché col tempo ti sembrerà tutto più semplice: Don’t worry if Italian seems difficult now, because in time everything will seem simpler.
• Forse col tempo imparerai a volermi bene: Maybe with time you will learn to love me.
• Pensavo che col tempo l’avrei convinto, ma non ci sono riuscito: I thought that over time I would convince him, but I couldn’t.
• Impariamo molto col passare del tempo: We learn a lot as time goes on.
• Questi colori sbiadiscono nel tempo: These colors fade over time.

We use the expression in tempo when we manage to do something or when we have enough time to accomplish something before a deadline:

• Sono arrivato all’appuntamento giusto in tempo: I arrived at the appointment just in time.
• Facciamo in tempo a prendere il treno?: Do we still have time to catch the train?
• Sei ancora in tempo per iscriverti alla gara: You still have time to register for the race.
• Sei sempre in tempo per cambiare idea: You still have time to change your mind.

And we use the expression per tempo when we need to do something before a deadline:

• Dovevi pensarci per tempo. Ora è troppo tardi per mangiare qualcosa: You should have thought of that ahead of time. Now it’s too late to eat something.

Sometimes we just have to be faster to be able to finish something in time and in this case we use the expression accelerare i tempi:

• La consegna di questo progetto è domani. Dobbiamo accelerare i tempi: The delivery of this project is tomorrow. We need to speed up the process.

But there are situations in which we run out of time and then we use such expressions as il tempo è finito or il tempo è scaduto:

• Il tempo è finito. Devi consegnare il questionario!: Time is up. You must submit the questionnaire!
• Il tempo è scaduto. Consegnate il test!: Time is up. Hand your test over!

Or situations in which we weren’t able to finish something before the deadline and it’s too late:

• Le iscrizioni alla gara erano aperte fino a ieri. Mi dispiace, ma sei fuori tempo massimo: Registration for the race was open until yesterday. I’m sorry, but you’re out of time.

There are cases in which we try to postpone a deadline in order to be able to finish what we’ve begun and we use the expressions prendere tempo or guadagnare tempo:

• Dobbiamo prendere tempo e cercare di convincerlo a darci un’altra settimana prima di pagare il debito: We have to buy time and try to convince him to give us another week before paying the debt.
  Devi guadagnare tempo e nel frattempo lavorare di più per avere i soldi necessari a pagare il debito: You have to buy time and in the meantime you need to work harder to get the money to pay the debt.

Sometimes we justify a delay that could have been avoided by blaming it on i tempi tecnici which is the minimum period of time required for the completion of a specific task:

• Avrete la vostra lavatrice funzionante fra una settimana. Purtroppo bisogna aspettare i tempi tecnici per la riparazione: You’ll get your functioning washing machine back in a week. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait for the time required for repair.

Prima del tempo, on the contrary, indicates that something happens earlier than expected or prematurely:

• Il pacco è arrivato prima del tempo: The package arrived earlier than expected.
  È invecchiato prima del tempo: He aged prematurely.

A suo tempo instead is an expression that indicates the right moment to do something:

• Ogni cosa va fatta a suo tempo: Everything must be done when the time is right.
  Ti dirò tutto a suo tempo: I’ll tell you everything when the right moment comes.

When we talk about our free time, we use the expression tempo libero:

• Nel tempo libero mi piace leggere: In my free time I like to read.

but there are also other ways to define those moments in which we are not too busy with work or with other chores. The expression tempi morti, for example, refers to our moments of inactivity: moments in which we can’t do much and we just have to wait for something to happen or a break within a productive process:

• Al lavoro, nei tempi morti, studio un po’ di inglese: At work, in my downtime, I study English a bit.

The expression rigagli di tempo implies that we’re usually very busy, but we sometimes happen to have some free time, even if it doesn’t last too long:

• Nei ritagli di tempo mi piace leggere: In my spare time I like to read.

Ritagliare means to cut out and un rigaglio is a cut-out. It’s like we’re cutting – or carving – some free time out of our usually busy schedule:

• Sono molto occupato, ma cercherò di ritagliarmi un po’ di tempo per te: I am very busy, but I’ll try to carve out some time for you.

The expression a tempo perso has pretty much the same meaning as nei ritagli di tempo:

• Sono molto impegnato, ma ti tradurrò questo articolo a tempo perso: I am very busy, but I will translate this article for you in my spare time.

Ammazzare il tempo means instead that we don’t have anything to do and we need to find some type of activity just to avoid getting bored:

• Quando mi annoio, gioco col mio cellulare per ammazzare il tempo: When I’m bored, I play with my cell phone to kill time.

When we talk about the past we can use the expressions al tempo or ai tempi:

• Al tempo della rivoluzione francese c’erano molti poveri: At the time of the French Revolution there were many poor people.
• Ai tempi della pandemia, tutti indossavano mascherine: At the time of the pandemic, everyone wore masks.
• A quei tempi eravamo più felici: Back then we were happier.

A similar expression we can use to talk about the past is un tempo:

• Un tempo non c’erano i frigoriferi: Once there were no refrigerators.

And when someone or something was popular in the past, but is now out of fashion, forgotten or useless, we use the expression fare il proprio tempo:

• I DVD hanno fatto il loro tempo. Ormai c’è Netflix: DVDs are out of fashion. We have Netflix now.

We use negli ultimi tempi, instead, to talk about more recent times:

• Negli ultimi tempi non esce mai di casa: Lately he never leaves the house.
• Si è comportato in modo strano negli ultimi tempi: He’s been acting weird lately.

Let’s also see some proverbs and sayings with the word tempo:

• Il tempo è denaro, quindi non perdere tempo!: Time is money, so don’t waste your time!
  
  Since you need time to achieve something and maybe make a profit out of it, the more time you waste, the more money you lose. 

• So che ora stai soffrendo, ma il tempo guarisce tutte le ferite: I know you’re hurting now, but time heals all wounds.
  
  Time helps you forget about your current problems and pain. With time all these negative feelings fade.
  
• Non avere fretta. Dai tempo al tempo: Don’t rush it. Give it time.
  
  Allow events to develop naturally without rushing them. Problems will solve on their own, you’ll achieve your goals in due time, and so on. Just be patient.

Tempo: Tense

In grammar, we use the word tempo to refer to a tense in which we can conjugate a verb:

• Il tempo presente si forma togliendo la desinenza dell’infinito: The present tense is formed by removing the ending of the infinitive.

Tempo: Half; Act

We also use the word tempo to talk about each half in which a sports game or a movie is divided into:

• Il primo tempo della partita di calcio sta per finire: The first half of the football match is about to end.
• Nel secondo tempo del film succederà qualcosa di sconvolgente. Vedrai: Something shocking will happen in the second act of the film. You’ll see.

Tempo: Weather

And finally we use the word tempo to talk about weather conditions:

• Oggi è bel tempo: Today the weather is lovely.
• Che tempo piovoso!: Such rainy weather!