Future tense in Italian (futuro semplice)

The future tense in Italian is made up of two tenses that both belong to the indicative mood: futuro semplice (future tense) and futuro anteriore (future perfect).
In this page we will talk about the Italian futuro semplice.

Definition and usage of the future tense in Italian (futuro semplice)

The future tense refers to an action that will take place in the future.

Examples:

• Giorgio arriverà tra un mese (Giorgio will arrive in a month)
• Essi andranno in Giappone il prossimo anno (Next year they will go to Japan)

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When to use the futuro semplice

Other situations that require the use of the futuro semplice are:

1.  to express a polite order (futuro iussivo)
2. before a statement in order to make it sound less authoritative and strong (futuro attenuativo)
3. to express an hypothesis, a doubt or a guess (futuro epistemico)

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In everyday language, the futuro semplice is often replaced with the presente indicativo.
e.g. Il prossimo mese parto per la Finlandia (Next month I (will) leave to go to Finland).
Mi sposo fra una settimana (I get (am getting) married in one week).

Marker words that indicate the futuro semplice

Here are some marker words that can be found with the futuro semplice tense:

Examples:

• Domani festeggerò il mio compleanno al mare (Tomorrow I will celebrate my birthday at the seaside)
• Fra 2 mesi inizierò un nuovo lavoro (In 2 months I will begin a new job)

Conjugation of the futuro semplice

The future tense in Italian is formed by adding certain endings to the root of the verb.

Conjugation of regular verbs in the future tense

Here is the conjugation of three verbs based on the conjugation they belong to.

Verbs that belong to the -are conjugation

These verbs add the endings -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno to the verb.

Example arrivare (to arrive)

Verbs that belong to the -ere conjugation

These verbs add the endings -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno to the verb.

Example conoscere (to know)

Verbs that belong to the -ire conjugation

These verbs add the endings -irò, irai, -irà, -iremo, -irete, -iranno to the verb.

Example partire (to leave)

Some tips that can help you to form the futuro semplice are:

1.  Verbs that end in -care and -gare usually add an h after the c or g. E.g. Pagare (to pay) - io  pagherò, tu pagherai, etc...
2. Verbs that end in -ciare and -giare usually lose the i. E.g. Cominciare (to begin/to start) - io comincerò, tu comincerai, etc...

Conjugation of irregular verbs in the future tense

Irregular verbs have to be studied by heart, but here you can find two main categories to classify them:

1. Verbs that lose the ending except for the letter r. E.g. Dovere - io dovrò / Sapere - io saprò.
2. Verbs that lose not only the ending, but also part of the root and add rr instead. E.g. Venire - io verrò / Tenere - io terrò.

Here you can find the conjugation in the future tense for the main irregular verbs of the two categories discussed above.

The following chart illustrates irregular verbs that you have to study by heart.

Auxiliary verbs: essere/avere

Here is the conjugation for the auxiliary verbs essere and avere in the futuro semplice.

Examples:

• Luigi sarà a Miami domani (Luigi will be in Miami tomorrow)
• Francesco e Sara avranno un bambino tra qualche mese (Francesco and Sara will have a baby in a few months).