Today we are going to show you how to conjugate and use the Italian future tense. We will also find it featured as futuro semplice. The futuro semplice in Italian can be used in forms we may have also taken note of in other languages, and even in some that are unique to Italian itself. So, buckle up, because this will be the hell of a ride!

SIMPLE PRESENT FOR FUTURE EVENTS

The Italian future tense can be expressed in its proper form by adding a future ending to a stem, as we’ll see. However, it is interesting to note that if you intend to speak about things imminently coming true either in the short or long term, the present may be and is oftentimes used as well. For example:

Suppose you gave your car a few days ago to have it fixed. Friday evening comes over and your friend asks you: 

• Quando ti danno la macchina? (When will you get the car back?) 

And your answer is:

• Non ti preoccupare, me la restituiscono domani (No worries, I’ll have it back tomorrow)

As you can see, in both sentences we can use the present tense. 

ITALIAN FUTURE TENSE’S CONJUGATION (REGULAR VERBS)

Now let’s see how to conjugate the Italian future tense. Most of the time, you take a stem and add the appropriate ending for the future in Italian. As you know, in this language, pronouns are not to be forced in a sentence as long as it is understood who the doer is. Let us take on the verb parlare and credere. For regular -are and –ere verbs, the endings come as follows: 

The story with -ire verbs is a tad bit different. Finire (to finish, to complete, to end) will make a good example: 

ITALIAN FUTURE TENSE’S CONJUGATION (IRREGULAR VERBS)

If you are into irregular verbs, this is when the fun begins: the supply is plentiful. Some -are/-ere verbs drop the infinitive ending vowel. Examples: andare (to go), cadere (to fall), dovere (to have to), potere (to be able to), sapere (to know), vedere (to see), vivere (to live). 

RIMANERE, TENERE, VOLERE

More stem changes to come: what about rimanere (to stay, to remain), tenere (to have), venire (to come), volere (to want)? Take a look at their total makeover on the board:

MANGIARE, COMINCIARE, VIAGGIARE

Remember that with some verbs mangiare (to eat), cominciare (to start, to begin) and viaggiare (to travel) we take away the -i- from the stem, and the /-c-/ /-g-/ sounds remain:

CERCARE, SPIEGARE

Instead, the examples of cercare (to look for, to seek, to try) and spiegare (to explain) will serve the purpose of showing how important sound conservation is when transformations are applied to words, and particularly those related to the Italian future tense.  

C becomes ch while g is written gh, but there is no sound variation whatsoever: cercare occurs as in scar and cercherò (and all the others) as in skeleton. In the meantime, spiegare resembles gap, and you should do spiegherò the same way as you do get.

APPLYING THEM

When it comes to the future, the event itself is something that is scheduled to happen any given time. Let’s see some examples:

• Tra un mese mangeremo il panettone (We’ll eat/be eating panettone [a traditional Christmas dessert] in a month).
• Venerdì prossimo andrò alla festa di Maria (Next Friday I will go to Maria’s party)
• Anna e Giovanni non verranno al nostro matrimonio (Anna and Giovanni won’t come to our wedding)

Far from being it, because the Italian future tense is packed with shades, we hope this concise article sheds a light on the basic facts and helps you out of confusion. To learn Italian, it is very important to practice every day, so why don’t you contact us and start learning Italian with one of our native teachers?

Now that you’ve learnt the future tense in Italian, discover the Italian past tense!

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