The future tense is used in order to express events that will happen in the future. Any Italian verb that is conjugated in the future tense is translated back into English with the word “will”
In order to conjugate a verb in the future tense, you always start with your infinitive. Remember that infinitives end in “are” “ere” and “ire”.
The next thing I have to do is to drop the final “e” from the infinitive.
The third thing I do is to add the appropriate ending depending on what the subject of the sentence is.
Here are the subjects in Italian with their English meanings and their matching endings for the future tense. The endings are in parethesis.
Io = I (ò) studierò
Tu = singular you (ai) tu studierai
Lui = he (à) studierà
Lei = she (à) studierà
Noi = we (emo) studieremo
Voi = plural you (ete) studierete
Loro = they (anno) studieranno
OK, now let’s take a look at the infinitive parlare = to speak.
Let’s say I want to write We will speak in Italian.
Obtain your infinitive to speak which is “parlare”
Cut off the final “e” of parlare. parlare —–> parlar
Because the verb parlare ends in “are” we must change the last two letters “ar” to “er” parlar ——> parler
Now find the subject “we” in English. It’s equivalent in Italian is “Noi”. The ending we use for “noi” is emo
Now take parler + emo and make it one word parleremo = they will speak
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Remember though that there are some verbs in Italian that have irregular stems. In other words, you can’t simply start from the infinitive and then cut off the final “e” because these verbs have their own special stem. Note that the endings for these irregular verbs do not change! You still use the same endings as found in the chart above.
IRREGULAR FUTURE TENSE STEMS
andare (to go) andr-
avere (to have) avr-
cadere (to fall) cadr-
dovere (to have to) dovr-
potere (to be able to) potr-
sapere (to know) sapr-
vedere (to see) vedr-
vivere (to live) vivr-
Let’s try one: You will live
The irregular stem is vivr
add your approriate ending for “You” ai
put it together vivr + ai vivrai = you will live
Exercise:
1) Ella (essere) in ufficio per il resto del pomeriggio She will be in her office for the rest of the afternoon.
2) Ti ( dare) un passaggio I’ll give you a lift
3) (controllare) la sua agenda per te I’ll check her diary for you
4)Ti ( chiamo) più tardi I’ll call you later.
5) Io sono sicura che ( passare) il tuo esame I’m sure you’ll pass your exam
6) Domani ( essere) una giornata calda e assolata Tomorrow will be warm and sunny
Answers:
sarà, darò, controllerò, chiamerò passerai, sarà.
Article by Giacomo DePasquale
