As you may have noticed, it is quite common to use the present tense to express future actions, especially when the action is imminent and/or when it is accompanied by an expression of future time. For example, I can say, Domani vado a prendere i bambini alle 10 di mattina (Tomorrow I’ll get the kids at 10 in the morning). In this phrase, I’ve used the present tense to convey a future action.
Of course there is also a formal future tense in Italian. To form the simple future (futuro semplice), you drop the final -e of the infinitive and add an appropriate ending. Only verbs ending in -are have further changes: they replace the -a- in the infinitive with an -e-.
Take a look at the following table which shows the conjugations for regular verbs ending in -are, -ere, and -ire.
NB: The conjugations of the -ire verbs are same for verbs in the -isc- class (finire, capire, etc.).
Of course there is also a formal future tense in Italian. To form the simple future (futuro semplice), you drop the final -e of the infinitive and add an appropriate ending. Only verbs ending in -are have further changes: they replace the -a- in the infinitive with an -e-.
Take a look at the following table which shows the conjugations for regular verbs ending in -are, -ere, and -ire.
cambiare | leggere | sentire | |
| io | Cambierò | leggerò | sentirò |
| tu | cambierai | leggerai | sentirai |
| lui/lei/Lei | Cambierà | leggerà | Sentirà |
| noi | cambieremo | leggeremo | sentiremo |
| voi | cambierete | leggerete | sentirete |
| loro | cambieranno | leggeranno | sentiranno |
NB: The conjugations of the -ire verbs are same for verbs in the -isc- class (finire, capire, etc.).
Examples
| Un giorno avrò dieci bambini e una casa con giardino! One day I’ll have ten kids and a house with a garden! Lavorerai anche i giorni festivi con questo nuovo lavoro? Will you also work on holidays with this new job? Il vicino di casa avrà cent’anni. The neighbor must be one hundred years old. Spiegheranno tutto all’inizio della lezione. They will explain everything at the beginning of the lesson. Paola sarà davvero arrabbiata quando vedrà tutto questo disordine. Paola will be really angry when she sees this mess. Arriveremo la settimana prossima. We will arrive next week. Ti metterai il vestito blu stasera? Will you wear the blue dress tonight? Viaggerete in treno o in autobus? Will you travel by train or by bus? Con quel professore gli studenti leggeranno centinaia di libri inutili. With that professor the students will read hundreds of useless books. |