Exercises + Written explanation: learnamo.com/il-futuro-in-ita...
If you want to stay up to date with the latest contents we publish day by day, follow us on:
Facebook: / learnamo
Instagram: / learnamo
Twitter: / learnamo
Today we will continue studying the Italian tenses and moods! In particular, today we will see the FUTURE: how it is formed and when it is used! Don’t miss this lesson!
SIMPLE FUTURE and COMPOUND FUTURE: morphology and use
The Italian future is divided into: simple and compound.
SIMPLE FUTURE
Good news: the endings of the simple future are the same for all the groups of verbs! That’s great, isn’t it? 😉
Furthermore, the endings of the future should not be added to the root of the verb, but to the whole verb without the last vowel -E.
Let’s see an example for each group:
PARLARE (to speak) SCRIVERE (to write) DORMIRE (to sleep)
io parlerò io scriverò io dormirò
tu parlerai tu scriverai tu dormirai
lui / lei parlerà lui / lei scriverà lui / lei dormirà
noi parleremo noi scriveremo noi dormiremo
voi parlerete voi scriverete voi dormirete
loro parleranno loro scriveranno loro dormiranno
Have you noticed the peculiarity of the verbs in -ARE? The letter -A of -ARE becomes an -E!
PAY ATTENTION:
The verbs ending in -CARE and -GARE take an H after the -C and the -G in each person of the conjugation!
Instead, the verbs in -CIARE and -GIARE lose the -I in each person of the conjugation!
Do you think it’s over? Unfortunately no!
The verbs ESSERE and AVERE, obviously, are completely irregular! Here you are their simple future.
Other irregularities that deserve to be mentioned are:
1) some verbs in -ARE such as DARE, FARE e STARE don’t change the -A in -E. Here you are their simple future.
2) some verbs in -ERE such as DOVERE, SAPERE, VIVERE, POTERE, VEDERE, CADERE (N.B. among these, there’s also ANDARE!!!) behave like AVERE, that is they lose the first E as well as the second one! Here you are their simple future.
3) other verbs, instead, lose not only the ending, but also part of their root, and they are characterized by the presence of a double r “rr”… This happens with VENIRE, RIMANERE, MANTENERE, TENERE, VOLERE and BERE. Here you are their simple future.
When TO USE the SIMPLE FUTURE in Italian?
1. Obviously, it is used to express actions that will be carried out.
For example:
L’anno prossimo andrò in Brasile. (Next year I’ll go to Brazil)
PAY ATTENTION! With this meaning, Italians often use the present instead of the future, especially when it’s a close future.
For example:
Domani incontriamo il Presidente (Tomorrow we meet the President)
is like
Domani incontreremo il Presidente (Tomorrow we’ll meet the President)
2. Furthermore, we use the future even to express insecurity, doubts…
For example:
È buio fuori, sembra molto tardi… Che ore saranno? (It’s dark outside, it seems to be very late… What time is it?)
3. Another very interesting use is that of expressing hypothesis.
For example:
Questo vestito costerà almeno 400 euro! Non posso permettermelo! (This dress will certainly cost at least 400 euros! I cannot afford it!)
4. We also use the future to reduce the importance of a subject… this is called FUTURO CONCESSIVO!
For example:
Luisa sarà anche una brava ragazza, ma proprio non la sopporto! Mi sta qui! (Luisa might be a good girl, but I can’t stand her!)
Did you know that the expression “Mi sta qui!” generally goes with a gesture in Italian? Learn Italian gestures with our video!
Do you still have some energy? Well! Then let’s see…
COMPOUND FUTURE
In order to form the compound future, you only need the future of the verb ESSERE or AVERE (according to the one that our verb needs) + the past participle of the verb.
When TO USE the COMPOUND FUTURE in Italian?
1. The compound future is used together with the simple future to express two actions, where one action happens after the other one (the compound future expresses the first action)
For example:
Quando avrai finito di mangiare, andremo al cinema. (When you’re done eating, we’ll go to the cinema)
Non appena saremo arrivati a Parigi, visiteremo la Torre Eiffel! (As soon as we arrive in Paris, we’ll visit the Eiffel Tower!)
2. Furthermore, we use it in the same cases in which we use the simple future, but to express a past action.
For example, hypothesis in the past:
Oggi Luigi ha mal di testa. Sicuramente avrà dormito poco ieri sera. (Today Luigi has a headache. He must have slept a little yesterday evening)
If you still have doubts, let us know in the comments!