the future - il futuro semplice

Ciao amici. This week's Italian grammar lesson is going to make the visionaries happy - we're going to learn the future tense. First the regular formation.

parlare	rispondere	finire
parlerò	risponderò	finirò
parlerai	risponderai	finirai
parlerà	risponderà	finirà
parleremo	risponderemo	finiremo
parlerete	risponderete	finirete
parleranno	risponderanno	finiranno

Things to watch out for:

One m in first person plural (noi). (You’ll see two in another tense later on.)

Two n’s in 3rd person plural. (You might be used to one in this form from tenses so far.)

Verbs ending in –are and –ere are identical.

Irregularities

These occur in the stem, not the endings. A few verbs change their stem in the future. Here are some of the more common ones:

andare - andr
avere - avr
dovere - dovr
potere - potr
sapere - sapr
vedere - vedr
vivere - vivr
bere - berr
venire - verr
volere - vorr
dare - dar
dire - dir
fare - far
stare - star

It’s easy to get venire (verr), vedere (vedr) and volere (vorr) mixed up. Even to an extent vivere (vivr).

essere

sarò

sarai

sarà

saremo

sarete

saranno

Uses

Similar to English except:

For the near future, you can use the present.

Domani non lavoro. (I will not work tomorrow.)

And you can use the future to indicate conjecture or probability. (“It must be…” or “It’s probably…”)

Dov’è Giorgio? – Sarà ancora al lavoro.

Where is George? – He must still be at work.

Tip du jour: To help you remember the io form in the future, think of the famous song, "Con te partirò." Or the famous Nessun dorma aria, "Vincerò, vincerò, vinceroooooooò!"