Italian 3.6. Simple Future Tense

The simple future tense is used in Italian to express events in the future.

To form the stem of the verb needed for regular verb conjugation, we drop the final “e” of the verb and change the final “-ar” to “-er” in the case of “-are” verbs. The endings are the same for the three types of verbs.

	-are ending e.g., parlare (to speak)	-ere ending e.g., vendere (to sell)	-ire ending e.g., partire (to leave)
io	parlerò	venderò	partirò
tu	parlerai	venderai	partirai
lui/lei	parlerà	venderà	partirà
noi	parleremo	venderemo	partiremo
voi	parlerete	venderete	partirete
loro	parleranno	venderanno	partiranno

In addition to expressing events in the future, the simple future tense can also be used to express conjecture or possibility, e.g., “La ragazza avrà 15 anni” (The girl might be 15 years old), “Dove sarà il mio cellulare?” (Where could my cell phone be?), etc.

Irregular Verbs

There are some verbs that are irregular in the simple future tense in Italian, which we attempt to summarize here.

1. Some verbs, in addition to dropping the final “e,” drop the vowel before the final “r” from the infinitive to form the stem.

For example, the stem from the verb “andare” (to go) becomes “andr-” instead of “andar-.” Other examples from this group are: “avere” (to have), “cadere” (to fall), “dovere” (must), “potere” (can), “sapere” (to know), “vedere” (to see), and “vivere” (to live).

	andare andr-	avere avr-	cadere cadr-	dovere dovr-	potere potr-
io	andrò	avrò	cadrò	dovrò	potrò
tu	andrai	avrai	cadrai	dovrai	potrai
lui/lei	andrà	avrà	cadrà	dovrà	potrà
noi	andremo	avremo	cadremo	dovremo	potremo
voi	andrete	avrete	cadrete	dovrete	potrete
loro	andranno	avranno	cadranno	dovranno	potranno

2. Some short verbs with the “-are” ending do not change the “-ar” to “-er” after dropping the final “e” to form the stem.

The most common verbs in this group are: “dare” (to give), “fare” (to do or to make), and “stare” (to stay or to be).

	dare dar-	fare far-	stare star-
io	darò	farò	starò
tu	darai	farai	starai
lui/lei	darà	farà	starà
noi	daremo	faremo	staremo
voi	darete	farete	starete
loro	daranno	faranno	staranno

3. Some verbs, in addition to dropping the final “e,” replace both the consonant and the vowel preceding the final “r” of the infinitive with an extra “r” to form the stem.

For example, the stem from “tenere” (to hold) is “terr-” instead of “tener-.” The most common verbs in this group are: “tenere” (to hold), “volere” (to want), and “venire” (to come).

	tenere terr-	volere vorr-	venire verr-
io	terrò	vorrò	verrò
tu	terrai	vorrai	verrai
lui/lei	terrà	vorrà	verrà
noi	terremo	vorremo	verremo
voi	terrete	vorrete	verrete
loro	terranno	vorranno	verranno

4. Some verbs are completely irregular, such as “essere” (to be) and “bere” (to drink), whose stems are “sar-” and “berr-,” respectively.

	essere sar-	bere berr-
io	sarò	berrò
tu	sarai	berrai
lui/lei	sarà	berrà
noi	saremo	berremo
voi	sarete	berrete
loro	saranno	berranno

5. Finally, the same orthographic changes applied to verbs ending in “-care,” “-gare,” “-ciare,” “-giare,” and “-gliare” in the present indicative tense are applied here to maintain the proper pronunciation.

Examples

Here are some examples that use the simple future tense in Italian:

L’anno prossimo andrò in Italia.	I will go to Italy next year.
Oggi non andrò in palestra.	I won’t go to the gym today.
Comprerà una casa a Roma.	She will buy a house in Rome.
Studierai duramente solo questo fine settimana.	You will study hard only this weekend.
Vivranno in una piccola città.	They will live in a small city.
Dormiremo tutto il giorno domani.	We will sleep all day tomorrow.

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