{"id":17171,"date":"2016-07-10T01:01:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T16:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dante-learning.com\/eng\/?p=17171"},"modified":"2026-04-23T03:48:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:48:03","slug":"italian-future-tense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dante-learning.com\/eng\/italian-future-tense\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Future Tense: futuro semplice and futuro anteriore (A2-B1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\ud83d\udd0d In short.<\/strong> Italian has two future tenses. Futuro semplice (parler\u00f2, scriver\u00f2, dormir\u00f2) is for future events and, just as important, for guesses about the present (sar\u00e0 stanco = he must be tired right now). Futuro anteriore (avr\u00f2 parlato, sar\u00f2 arrivato) is the compound one: it marks an action that will be finished before another future action, and it doubles up as a polite guess about a past event (sar\u00e0 costata mille euro = it probably cost a thousand euros). The endings are shared by all three conjugations: -er\u00f2 \/ -erai \/ -er\u00e0 \/ -eremo \/ -erete \/ -eranno. A small but important group of verbs drops the vowel (avere, andare, vedere, sapere\u2026) or assimilates to a double r (volere, tenere, venire, rimanere, bere).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you will master:<\/strong> the shared paradigm across -are, -ere, -ire; the spelling tricks of mangiare, cercare, pagare; the irregular stems (contraction vs double-r); when Italians skip futuro and use presente instead; the epistemic present (sar\u00e0, avr\u00e0); the compound form of futuro anteriore; the connectors that force it (quando, appena, dopo che); and the epistemic past (sar\u00e0 stata una coincidenza).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Two Italian futures and why you need both<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Italian splits the future into a simple tense (futuro semplice) and a compound tense (futuro anteriore). English has something similar: “I will eat” vs “I will have eaten”. The simple future points at the action itself; the anterior future frames an action as completed before another future moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both tenses do more than describe future events. Both are routinely used for guesses, estimates, and polite hedges. Futuro semplice can cover a guess about now (dove sara Michele?), and futuro anteriore can cover a guess about the past (sara costata una fortuna). English speakers often miss this “epistemic” use, because “will” does not cover it in the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Futuro semplice: the regular pattern for -are, -ere, -ire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The good news: all three conjugations share the same set of endings. The -a- of -are infinitives softens into an -e-, which lines it up with -ere. -ire keeps its -i-. After that, the endings are identical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

subject<\/th>parlare<\/th>leggere<\/th>dormire<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
io<\/td>parlero<\/td>leggero<\/td>dormiro<\/td><\/tr>
tu<\/td>parlerai<\/td>leggerai<\/td>dormirai<\/td><\/tr>
lui \/ lei<\/td>parlera<\/td>leggera<\/td>dormira<\/td><\/tr>
noi<\/td>parleremo<\/td>leggeremo<\/td>dormiremo<\/td><\/tr>
voi<\/td>parlerete<\/td>leggerete<\/td>dormirete<\/td><\/tr>
loro<\/td>parleranno<\/td>leggeranno<\/td>dormiranno<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Note the accent on the io and lui\/lei forms (parlero, parlera). It is the stressed vowel that distinguishes io parlero (I will speak) from io parlo (I speak) in writing. In speech, the accent falls clearly on the last syllable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The -ire contrast between first-group (dormire, partire) and -isc-group (capire, finire, preferire) disappears in the futuro. Capiro, capirai, capira line up exactly with dormiro, dormirai, dormira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mangiare, cercare, pagare: the spelling twist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three families of -are verbs ask for a small spelling adjustment so that the stem sound stays consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n