колико је сати

Telling the Time

Level 1Sounds Like koliko ǰe sati

Колико је сати? means "What time is it?" (literally, "How much of hours is it?"). Use this fixed phrase whenever you want to check the current clock time.

How It Works

The most common and standard way to ask for the time in Serbian is Колико је сати?.

1. Structure of the Question
Literally translated, the phrase asks "How much of hours is it?":

  • Колико = "how much / how many"
  • је = short 3rd-person singular present of бити ("is")
  • сати = genitive plural of сат specifically in its meaning as a unit of time ("hour"; when сат means "clock" or "watch", its plural is сатови)

Because је is an enclitic, it must stay in the second syntactic slot directly after Колико.

2. Answering the Question
When stating the time, the form of сат depends on the numeral:

Tip: In casual daily speech, native speakers frequently drop the word сат/сата/сати entirely and just say the number (e.g., Сада је пет or Пола три). In formal, official, or administrative contexts (such as train timetables or news broadcasts), you will often encounter час (singular) and часова (genitive plural) instead of сат / сати (e.g., у 19 часова).

3. Minutes, Half-Hours, and Asking "At What Time?"

  • Minutes past the hour: connected simply with и (e.g., три и десет = 3:10).
  • Minutes to the hour: expressed with до (e.g., десет до четири = ten to four / 3:50).
  • Half-hours: Serbian expresses half-past by using пола followed by the next upcoming hour (e.g., 1:30 is пола два [literally "half of two"]; 2:30 is пола три).
  • At what time?: to ask "At what time?", use У колико сати? (or formally У колико часова?). To answer, use the preposition у + time (e.g., у пет сати, у два сата).

4. Common Variations
You will also hear Колико има сати? (literally "How many hours are there?"). Here, има is used impersonally in an existential sense (meaning "there is / there are"), and it is completely interchangeable with Колико је сати? in everyday conversation.

Examples (5)

  1. Извините, колико је сати?

    Excuse me, what time is it?

    Word by Word: Excuse me, how much is of-hours?

    A polite, standard way to ask a stranger for the time on the street.

  2. Сада је тачно пет сати.

    It is exactly five o'clock now.

    Word by Word: Now is exactly five of-hours.

    Because 5 takes the genitive plural, 'сат' becomes 'сати'.

  3. Колико је сати? — Два сата.

    What time is it? — Two o'clock.

    Word by Word: How much is of-hours? — Two hours.

    The numeral 2 governs the paucal ending '-а' ('сата').

  4. Колико је сати? — Пола четири.

    What time is it? — Half past three.

    Word by Word: How much is of-hours? — Half four.

    In Serbian, half-past counts toward the upcoming hour ('пола четири' = 3:30, halfway to four).

  5. Знаш ли колико је сати?

    Do you know what time it is?

    Word by Word: Know you whether how much is of-hours?

    Shows the pattern embedded in an everyday indirect question.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'време' (time/weather) instead of 'сати' (hours) when asking the clock time.

    Колико је време?
    Колико је сати?

    In Serbian, 'време' refers to abstract time or the weather. To ask what time it is on the clock, you must count hours using 'сати'.

  • Misinterpreting half-past by using the past hour instead of the approaching hour.

    Пола два значи два и тридесет.
    Пола два значи један и тридесет.

    'Пола два' means 1:30 (halfway to two). If you want to say 2:30, use 'пола три' (halfway to three).

  • Using the wrong form of 'сат' after numerals 2, 3, and 4.

    Сада је три сати.
    Сада је три сата.

    Numbers ending in 2, 3, and 4 require the paucal form ending in '-а' ('сата'), not the genitive plural '-и' ('сати').

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

колико је сатиLevel 1Telling the Time

Learn This First

To ask and tell time in Serbian, learners need the present tense of 'бити' (је / су) as well as the rules for counting with numbers (2–4 taking the paucal form 'сата', and 5+ taking the genitive plural 'сати').

Words in This Pattern

сатколико