Italian Future Tense: Futuro Semplice and Anteriore

🔍 In short. The italian future tense comes in two forms. Futuro semplice (parlerò, leggerò, dormirò) marks future events and, just as often, a guess about the present (sarà stanco = he must be tired right now). Futuro anteriore (avrò parlato, sarò arrivato) is the compound one: it marks an action finished before another future action, and it also covers a guess about the past (sarà costata mille euro = it probably cost a thousand euros). The endings are shared by all three conjugations: -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno. A small group of verbs drops the vowel (avrò, andrò) or doubles the r (vorrò, verrò).

Get the italian future tense right and you open up plans, predictions, polite guesses and the very Italian habit of using the future to say “I am not sure”. By the end you will form both tenses, place the irregular stems, and know when Italians quietly drop the future for the present instead.

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Two Italian futures and why you need both

The italian future tense splits into a simple tense (futuro semplice) and a compound tense (futuro anteriore). English has a close parallel: “I will eat” versus “I will have eaten”. Within the italian future tense, the simple form points at the action itself; the anterior form frames an action as finished before another future moment.

Both tenses do more than describe the future. Both are used constantly for guesses, estimates and polite hedging. Futuro semplice covers a guess about now (dove sarà Caterina?), and futuro anteriore covers a guess about the past (sarà costata una fortuna). English speakers miss this, because “will” does not stretch that far. Learning the italian future tense means learning the forms and this second, hidden job at the same time.

Futuro semplice: the regular pattern for -are, -ere, -ire

The good news about the italian future tense: all three conjugations share one set of endings. The -a- of -are verbs softens into -e-, which lines it up with -ere. The -ire group keeps its -i-. After that, the endings are identical for every verb.

Subject	parlare	leggere	dormire
io	parlerò	leggerò	dormirò
tu	parlerai	leggerai	dormirai
lui / lei	parlerà	leggerà	dormirà
noi	parleremo	leggeremo	dormiremo
voi	parlerete	leggerete	dormirete
loro	parleranno	leggeranno	dormiranno

Note the accent on the io and lui/lei forms (parlerò, parlerà). The written accent is what separates io parlerò (I will speak) from io parlo (I speak), and in speech the stress falls clearly on the last syllable. The -isc- split that -ire verbs show in the present (capisco versus dormo) disappears here: capirò, capirai, capirà line up exactly with dormirò, dormirai, dormirà.

Mangiare, cercare, pagare: the spelling twist

Three families of -are verbs need a small spelling adjustment in the italian future tense so the stem sound stays the same. This is the only orthography hurdle in the regular italian future tense.

• mangiare, viaggiare, cominciare (soft -gi-, -ci- stems): drop the -i- before the ending. mangerò, viaggeremo, cominceranno.
• cercare, giocare, dimenticare (hard c): add an h to keep the sound hard. cercherò, giocherai, dimenticheremo.
• pagare, legare, spiegare (hard g): add an h for the same reason. pagherò, legheranno, spiegheremo.

The irregular future stems: essere, avere, andare and friends

About a dozen very common verbs do not follow the regular rule. They fall into small families, all worth memorising because they appear in almost every sentence. The same stems also feed the condizionale (avrei, andrei, vorrei), so one round of memorisation does double work across the italian future tense and the conditional.

Family	Verbs	Stem and io form
essere (unique)	essere	sar-: sarò, sarai, sarà, saremo, sarete, saranno
a-stems	fare, stare, dare	far- / star- / dar-: farò, starò, darò
vowel drop	avere, andare, dovere, potere, sapere, vedere, vivere, cadere	avr-, andr-, dovr-, potr-, sapr-, vedr- (avrò, andrò, dovrò)
double r	volere, tenere, venire, rimanere, bere	vorr-, terr-, verr-, rimarr-, berr- (vorrò, terrò, verrò)

Drill all six endings on the most frequent irregular stem, avere: avrò, avrai, avrà, avremo, avrete, avranno. Every irregular stem above takes those exact endings, so once you own the stem the rest is muscle memory. Note andare sits with the vowel-drop group (andrò, not anderò), a frequent learner slip.

Futuro semplice for actual future events

The most transparent use of the italian future tense is the one textbooks start with: marking an event that lies ahead. Italians reach for futuro semplice when the moment is fairly distant, when the plan is uncertain, or when the register is formal.

• L’anno prossimo andremo a Padova per il festival.
  Next year we will go to Padua for the festival.
• A ottant’anni vivrò al mare, non in città.
  At eighty I will live by the sea, not in the city.
• La conferenza comincerà alle nove in punto.
  The conference will start at nine sharp.
• I pomodori saranno maturi solo a luglio.
  The tomatoes will be ripe only in July.

One key difference from French or Spanish: Italian does not insist on the future for near events. In casual speech the present indicative is standard and often preferred, a point the dedicated section below covers in full.

Futuro semplice for guesses about the present

Here is the move that surprises English speakers. To mark uncertainty about a present fact, Italians shift into futuro semplice. The tense is not pointing at the future at all; it signals “I am guessing, not stating”. This conjectural reading is one of the most useful corners of the italian future tense, and a hallmark of fluent, natural italian future tense use.

• Dove sarà Pietro? Non risponde da un’ora.
  Where can Pietro be? He has not answered for an hour.
• Questo telefono costerà mille euro.
  This phone probably costs a thousand euros.
• La madre di Elena avrà quarant’anni.
  Elena’s mother is probably around forty.
• Non ho l’orologio, ma saranno le quattro.
  I do not have a watch, but it must be four o’clock.

In English you would add “must”, “probably” or “I guess”. Italian folds that whole hedge into the italian future tense itself. There is also a concessive flavour: avrà anche ragione, ma non sono d’accordo (she may well be right, but I do not agree). Once you hear this, half of spoken Italian starts to make sense.

Futuro anteriore: how you build it

Futuro anteriore is the compound half of the italian future tense, the second tense every learner needs. Two pieces: the auxiliary (essere or avere) in the futuro semplice, then the past participle. Auxiliary choice mirrors the passato prossimo exactly: essere for motion, change of state and reflexives, avere for most others.

Subject	essere + andare	avere + mangiare
io	sarò andato / andata	avrò mangiato
tu	sarai andato / andata	avrai mangiato
lui / lei	sarà andato / andata	avrà mangiato
noi	saremo andati / andate	avremo mangiato
voi	sarete andati / andate	avrete mangiato
loro	saranno andati / andate	avranno mangiato

Agreement is identical to the passato prossimo: with essere the participle agrees with the subject (Caterina sarà arrivata, i ragazzi saranno partiti); with avere it stays in -o unless a direct-object pronoun comes first (le avrò già viste).

When you need futuro anteriore: quando, appena, dopo che

Italian reaches for futuro anteriore when two future actions sit in the same sentence and one must finish before the other starts. The trigger connectors are quando, appena, dopo che, una volta che. The earlier-future clause takes futuro anteriore; the later one takes futuro semplice.

• Quando avrò finito di lavorare, tornerò a casa.
  When I have finished work, I will go home.
• Appena sarai arrivata a Lucca, chiamami.
  As soon as you have arrived in Lucca, call me.
• Dopo che avremo mangiato, faremo due passi sulle mura.
  After we have eaten, we will take a short walk on the walls.
• Se tra un’ora il pacco non sarà arrivato, chiamerò il corriere.
  If the parcel has not arrived in an hour, I will call the courier.

English uses the simple present or present perfect here (“when I finish”, “when I have finished”). Italian wants the double future marking to make the sequence unambiguous. Skipping futuro anteriore after quando, appena or dopo che is one of the most recognisable learner mistakes in the whole italian future tense.

Futuro anteriore for guesses about the past

The italian future tense has a mirror image of the present-guess use. To mark a guess about a past event, Italians shift the sentence into futuro anteriore. The action is firmly in the past; the italian future tense only flags “I am estimating, not stating”.

• Quel quadro sarà costato una fortuna.
  That painting must have cost a fortune.
• Avrà avuto dieci anni quando ha iniziato a suonare.
  She must have been about ten when she started playing.
• Non rispondono: saranno usciti a fare la spesa.
  They are not answering: they must have gone out shopping.
• Avrai anche studiato, ma l’esame non è andato bene.
  You may well have studied, but the exam did not go well.

The plain version would use the passato prossimo plus a marker: forse è costato una fortuna, probabilmente sono usciti. Futuro anteriore compresses that hedge into the italian future tense, exactly as futuro semplice does for present guesses. The last example also shows the concessive use: “you may have, but”.

Presente for the future: when Italians skip futuro semplice

One last twist of the italian future tense: in everyday spoken Italian, near-future events often come out in the presente, not the futuro semplice. This is not a mistake: it is an established pattern. Learners who force the italian future tense into every forward-looking sentence end up sounding textbook-stiff.

• Domani parto per Modena con il treno delle nove.
  Tomorrow I am leaving for Modena on the nine o’clock train.
• Stasera ceniamo dai miei.
  Tonight we are having dinner at my parents’.
• Tra dieci minuti arrivo, sono quasi alla stazione.
  I will be there in ten minutes, I am almost at the station.
• Il treno parte alle dieci e mezza.
  The train leaves at half past ten.

Rule of thumb: if a time word anchors the event (domani, stasera, tra dieci minuti, alle nove) and the event is planned or scheduled, the present covers it. The italian future tense becomes necessary when the moment is distant, uncertain, or projected with no tight time anchor: un giorno andrò in Giappone, prima o poi ci sposeremo.

Cheat sheet: italian future tense

The whole italian future tense on one card. Keep it open while you build your next sentence.

Item	Rule	Example
Endings	-erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno (-irò for -ire)	parlerò, leggerò, dormirò
Spelling	mangiare drops i; cercare, pagare add h	mangerò, cercherò, pagherò
Vowel-drop stems	avere, andare, dovere, potere, sapere, vedere	avrò, andrò, dovrò
Double-r stems	volere, tenere, venire, rimanere, bere	vorrò, terrò, verrò
Futuro semplice uses	distant future fact, guess about the present	sarà stanco
Futuro anteriore form	future of essere/avere + participle	avrò finito, sarò partito
Futuro anteriore uses	anteriority after quando/appena/dopo che; guess about the past	sarà costata mille euro
Presente pro futuro	near, anchored events sound better in the present	domani parto

Common mistakes English speakers make with the italian future tense

Five slips flag a sentence as written by a learner. Each one comes from mapping English habits straight onto the italian future tense instead of trusting its own logic.

• Regularising andare. ❌ anderò. ✅ andrò. It belongs to the vowel-drop group.
• Forgetting the accent. ❌ io parlero. ✅ io parlerò. The written accent on -ò and -à is obligatory.
• Skipping futuro anteriore after a trigger. ❌ Quando finisco, ti chiamerò (in formal use). ✅ Quando avrò finito, ti chiamerò.
• Adding forse to a conjectural future. ❌ Forse sarà a casa when you only mean “she is probably home”. ✅ Sarà a casa already carries the guess.
• Forcing the future on near events. ❌ Domani partirò alle nove in casual speech. ✅ Domani parto alle nove sounds more natural.

For the participle that builds futuro anteriore, see our guide on the Italian past participle. For auxiliary choice in compound tenses, passato prossimo vs imperfetto. For the twin stems, the Italian conditional. The institutional reference on the conjectural use is the Accademia della Crusca note on the uso epistemico del futuro.

Dialog: at the car-rental desk

Pietro books a car at a rental desk in Lucca for a weekend trip. This short scene runs the italian future tense through every job: a near plan in the present, real future events, the conjectural guess, and one futuro anteriore after appena.

Notice the mix: domani parto (present for a near plan), riporterà and costerà (plain future), saranno due ore e mezza (conjectural guess), appena sarò tornato and dopo che avrò firmato (futuro anteriore after triggers). One short exchange runs the whole italian future tense system.

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Test your understanding

The quiz below drills the whole italian future tense: regular and irregular forms, the conjectural use, and futuro anteriore after triggers. Take it after the cheat sheet.

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Frequently asked questions

Seven questions about the italian future tense come up in every A2 to B1 cohort. The answers below draw on classroom usage and on the Accademia della Crusca note on the uso epistemico del futuro.

Related guides

Three guides that pair with the italian future tense, plus an institutional reference.

• Italian Past Participle: the participle that builds futuro anteriore.
• Italian Passato Prossimo vs Imperfetto: auxiliary choice in compound tenses.
• Italian Conditional: the twin that shares the same irregular stems.
• Accademia della Crusca: uso epistemico del futuro: institutional note.