Lesson 0009 Spoken Kannada ~11 min

What time? (clock time)

Ask and say the hour — meetings, autos, darshini rush — using numbers you already know plus gante and a few clock glue words.

Audio: Machine-generated Kannada (edge-tts · kn-IN-SapnaNeural). Helpful for rhythm and recognition — may not perfectly match native Bengaluru pronunciation. Prefer what you hear from neighbours when the two differ.
Today’s win

You can ask Eshtu gante?, answer Aidu gante aytu, schedule Naale hattu gante-ge, and catch half-hour ardha.

Spaced review: ondu…ippatthu · ivattu · naale · shubhodaya · Idhu eshtu? · naale nodona

01 Why this matters

L7 gave day-parts (morning/evening). Real life needs the clock: “meeting at 10,” “come by 7,” “what time is it?” Bengaluru mixes English “o’clock / AM / PM” with Kannada — still learn the Kannada spine.

02 One grammar lever: number + gante

Pattern

gante = hour / o’clock (≈ baje / ghanta)
Aidu gante = 5 o’clock
Aidu gante aytu = it’s 5 o’clock
Aidu gante-ge = at 5 (destination-ish -ge from L2 = “for/at that time”)

Ask: Eshtu gante? or Eshtu gante aytu? ≈ What time is it?

03 Core clock set

askEshtu gante?
slownatural
3:00Mooru gante
slownatural
5:00Aidu gante
slownatural
7:00Elu gante
slownatural
10:00Hattu gante
slownatural
12:00Hanneradu gante
slownatural
half pastardha
noweega
laternantara / baadige

04 Phrase cards

Eshtu gante? · Eshtu gante aytu?

slownatural
slownatural

What time is it?

≈ Kitne baje hain?

eshtu (L3) + gante. Full form with aytu is very common.

Aidu gante aytu

slownatural

It’s five o’clock

≈ Paanch baje hain

Swap any number you know: mooru, elu, hattu, hanneradu, ippatthu…

Hattu gante-ge banni

slownatural

Come at ten

≈ Das baje aana

banni = come (polite; you met in hogi banni L7). Time + -ge + verb.

Naale elu gante-ge

slownatural

Tomorrow at seven

≈ Kal subah/shaam saat baje — context from day-part

Stack L7 naale + clock. Add beligge / sayankala if needed.

Aidu gante ardha

slownatural

Five-thirty / half past five

≈ Saadhe paanch

ardha = half. You’ll also hear English “five-thirty” constantly — still lock ardha.

Eega · Tumba late aytu

slownatural

Now · It’s very late

≈ Abhi · Bahut late ho gaya

eega = now. tumba (L6) + late + aytu — mix is natural.

Swalpa early · Time ide na?

slownatural
slownatural

A bit early · Is there time? / Do we have time?

≈ Thoda early · Time hai na?

EN time words + Kannada glue. ide na? recycles L4 existence + tag.

Yaavaaga meeting? · Hattu gante-ge

slownatural
slownatural

When is the meeting? · At ten

≈ Meeting kab hai?

Reuse L7 yaavaaga? for schedule questions.

05 Mini vocab bank

KannadaEnglishHindi bridge
gante
hour / o’clockbaje / ghanta
eshtu gante?
slownatural
what time?kitne baje?
ardha
halfaadha / saadhe
eega
nowabhi
banni
come (polite)aaiye
nimisha
minuteminute
late aytu
slownatural
became latelate ho gaya
… gante-geat … o’clock… baje

06 Model dialogues

A · What time is it?

You
Kshamisi. Eshtu gante aytu?

slownatural

Excuse me. What time is it?

Other
Hattu gante aytu.

slownatural

It’s ten o’clock.

You
Gothaytu. Dhanyavadagalu.

slownatural

Got it. Thank you.

B · Fix a time

Neighbour
Yaavaaga meeting?

slownatural

When is the meeting?

You
Naale beligge elu gante-ge.

slownatural

Tomorrow morning at seven.

Neighbour
Sari. Elu gante ardha OK na?

slownatural

Okay. 7:30 OK?

You
Sari. Naale nodona.

slownatural

Okay. See you tomorrow.

07 Retrieval practice

1. “What time is it?”
2. “hour / o’clock”
3. “It’s five o’clock”
4. “half” (half past)
5. “now”
6. Spaced: “tomorrow” (L7)

08 Production

  1. What time is it?
  2. It’s ten o’clock.
  3. Come at seven.
  4. Tomorrow at five.
  5. Five-thirty.
  6. It’s very late now.

09 Real-world task

Before next lesson
  1. Once today: ask someone Eshtu gante aytu? (or check your phone and say the answer out loud in Kannada).
  2. Put one real plan on your calendar using … gante-ge (even if the other person speaks English).
  3. Say three times: 7:00, 10:00, 5:30 in Kannada.

10 Primary source

Compare time phrases with WikiBooks Kannada phrases and what receptionists / drivers actually say in Bengaluru (often EN+KN mix).

Ask your teacher

Heard a time you can’t parse (e.g. “kaalu” / minutes)? Paste it — we’ll decode.

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