How to Talk About the Future in Italian: A Guide to the Futuro Semplice

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In Italian, the simple future tense (futuro semplice) refers to actions which have yet to happen. Fortunately, it is much simpler than the present and the past, and both its use and conjugations are pretty straightforward. 

In this lesson we will show you how to conjugate and use the futuro semplice. It is not a hard tense to master.

Using the futuro semplice 

In Italian, the futuro semplice is used to:

• talk about events that will take place in the future. Unlike in English, it doesn’t matter if the action is far or close in the future:

La festa si terrà sabato prossimo — “The party will take place next Saturday.”si terrà sabato prossimo –	The party will take place next Saturday
Tra cento anni questa città sarà diversa — “In a hundred years, this city will be different.” This is an illustrative prediction, not a factual forecast.sarà invivibile	In a hundred years, this city will be different

• plan an action that will happen:

La prossima estate io e Filippo andremo in Brasile	Filippo and I are going to Brazil next summer
Diego inizierà la dieta domani	Diego will start the diet tomorrow

• give an instruction or command. This can sound firm; the future tense does not automatically make it polite:

Farai tutto quello che ti dico, va bene?

You will do what I say, alright?

• invite agreement or soften an assertion. Tone and context still determine how direct it sounds:

Ammetterai che non hai avuto un comportamento adeguato

You have to admit that you didn’t behave properly

• express a hypothesis, a guess or a doubt:

Dove sarà Camilla?	Where could Camilla be? (I am wondering where Camilla is right now, not asking where she will be at some point in the future)
Da qui al parco saranno tre chilometri	It must be about three kilometers (roughly two miles) from here to the park

In the spoken language, the futuro semplice is often replaced with the present tense to:

• refer to the future:

Il corso intensivo di italiano comincia domani	The intensive Italian course starts tomorrow
Mi sposo tra due settimane	I am getting married in two weeks

• say what you are about to do:

Pago io!

I’ll pay!

• ask for suggestions:

Cosa facciamo?

What shall we do?

Note that, unlike in English, both parts of a future sentence can be in the future tense in Italian.

Ci crederò quando lo vedrò	I’ll believe it when I see it
Chi vivrà, vedrà	Only time will tell

We suggest studying the futuro semplice and its uses within the context of speaking Italian. Try and think in Italian when you speak, and don’t look for a correspondence with any particular tense in English. Italian and English have different tense forms and most of the time you cannot make an exact correspondence between their tenses.

Constructing the futuro semplice

Lucky for you, the futuro semplice is easy to form in Italian. You start by removing the verb’s ending, and then add the appropriate simple future ending. 

There is one form for first-conjugation and second-conjugation regular verbs, and a second form for third-conjugation regular verbs.

•      For regular verbs ending in -are and -ere, the simple future endings are:

• -erò for “I”
• -erai for “you”
• -erà for “he”/ “she” / “it”
• -eremo for “we”
• -erete for “you (plural)”
• -eranno for “they”

So, for instance, to form the future tense of cantare (to sing) and vendere (to sell), you have:

Cantare (to sing)

Io canterò	I will sing
Tu canterai	You will sing
Lui/lei canterà	He/She/It will sing
Noi canteremo	We will sing
Voi canterete	You (plural) will sing
Loro canteranno	They will sing

Vendere (to sell)

Io venderò	I will sell
Tu venderai	You will sell
Lui/lei venderà	He/She/It will sell
Noi venderemo	We will sell
Voi venderete	You (plural) will sell
Loro venderanno	They will sell

•   For regular verbs ending in -ire, the simple future endings are:

• -irò for “I”
• -irai for “you” 
• -irà for “he”/ “she” / “it”
• -iremo for “we”
• -irete for “you (plural)”
• -iranno for “they”

Note that they are the same as above except for the first letter. So, for instance, to form the future tense of sentire (to hear), you have:

Sentire (to hear)

Io sentirò	I will hear
Tu sentirai	You will hear
Lui/lei sentirà	He/She/It will hear
Noi sentiremo	We will hear
Voi sentirete	You (plural) will hear
Loro sentiranno	They will hear

For verbs ending in -are, there are some spelling changes to learn. Verbs ending in -care and -gare, such as cercare (to look for, to try), pubblicare (to publish), seccare (to annoy), pagare (to pay), delegare (to delegate) and spiegare (to explain), add an “h” to the future tense stem after the “c” or “g”, in order to preserve the hard sound of the infinitive.

Pubblicare (to publish)

Io pubblicherò	I will publish
Tu pubblicherai	You will publish
Lui/lei pubblicherà	He/She/It will publish
Noi pubblicheremo	We will publish
Voi pubblicherete	You (plural) will publish
Loro pubblicheranno	They will publish

Delegare (to delegate)

Io delegherò	I will delegate
Tu delegherai	You will delegate
Lui/lei delegherà	He/She/It will delegate
Noi delegheremo	We will delegate
Voi delegherete	You (plural) will delegate
Loro delegheranno	They will delegate

Verbs ending in –giare and –ciare, such as mangiare (to eat), parcheggiare (to park), cominciare (to start) and viaggiare (to travel), remove the “i” before adding the future-tense endings.

Mangiare (to eat)

Io mangerò	I will eat
Tu mangerai	You will eat
Lui/lei mangerà	He/She/It will eat
Noi mangeremo	We will eat
Voi mangerete	You (plural) will eat
Loro mangeranno	They will eat

Viaggiare (to travel)

Io viaggerò	I will travel
Tu viaggerai	You will travel
Lui/lei viaggerà	He/She/It will travel
Noi viaggeremo	We will travel
Voi viaggerete	You (plural) will travel
Loro viaggeranno	They will travel

Those are the regular patterns and spelling changes. Next, learn the common irregular stems.

Irregular verbs in the Italian simple future tense

In the future tense, some verbs are irregular, which means they do not follow the regular conjugation patterns. 

The auxiliary verbs essere (to be) and avere (to have) have irregular future forms. The stem of the verb “essere” is sar-.

Essere (to be)

Io sarò 

Tu sarai 

Lui/lei sarà 

Noi saremo 

Voi sarete 

Loro saranno

Avere (to have)

Io avrò

Tu avrai 

Lui/lei avrà

Noi avremo

Voi avrete

Loro avranno

Irregular verbs have to be committed to memory, but here are two main categories to classify them.

1. 1These verbs have contracted stems: dovr-, sapr-, potr-, vedr-, vivr-, cadr-. Add -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, -ete, -anno.

Dovere (to have to) 

Io dovrò

Tu dovrai 

Lui/lei dovrà

Noi dovremo

Voi dovrete

Loro dovranno

Sapere (to know)

Io saprò

Tu saprai 

Lui/lei saprà

Noi sapremo

Voi saprete

Loro sapranno

Potere (to be able to)

Io potrò

Tu potrai 

Lui/lei potrà

Noi potremo 

Voi potrete 

Loro potranno

Vedere (to see)

Io vedrò

Tu vedrai 

Lui/lei vedrà

Noi vedremo

Voi vedrete

Loro vedranno

Vivere (to live)

Io vivrò

Tu vivrai 

Lui/lei vivrà

Noi vivremo

Voi vivrete

Loro vivranno

Cadere (to fall)

Io cadrò

Tu cadrai 

Lui/lei cadrà

Noi cadremo

Voi cadrete

Loro cadranno

    2. Verbs that lose both the ending and part of the root, and add “rr” instead.

Venire (to come)

Io verrò

Tu verrai

Lui/lei verrà

Noi verremo

Voi verrete 

Loro verranno

Tenere (to keep)

Io terrò

Tu terrai 

Lui/lei terrà

Noi terremo 

Voi terrete 

Loro terranno

Volere (to want)

Io vorrò

Tu vorrai 

Lui/lei vorrà

Noi vorremo 

Voi vorrete

Loro vorranno

Bere (to drink)

Io berrò

Tu berrai

Lui/lei berrà

Noi berremo

Voi berrete

Loro berranno

Condurre (to drive)

Io condurrò

Tu condurrai 

Lui/lei condurrà

Noi condurremo

Voi condurrete

Loro condurranno

Tradurre (to translate)

Io tradurrò

Tu tradurrai 

Lui/lei tradurrà

Noi tradurremo

Voi tradurrete

Loro tradurranno

Fare, dare and stare drop the final -e and use far-, dar-, star-. Add the person endings -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, -ete, -anno, not the full -erò endings listed for regular verbs.

Fare (to do, to make)

Io farò

Tu farai 

Lui/lei farà

Noi faremo 

Voi farete 

Loro faranno

Dare (to give)

Io darò

Tu darai 

Lui/lei darà

Noi daremo

Voi darete

Loro daranno

Stare (to stay, to be)

Io starò

Tu starai 

Lui/lei starà

Noi staremo

Voi starete

Loro staranno

As you might have noticed, the tail end of the future-tense endings is the same for each subject even with these irregular conjugations.

Which phrases are typically used with the futuro semplice?

These expressions often appear in future contexts. They can accompany futuro semplice or a present tense with future meaning; they do not select the tense automatically.

• Domani – Tomorrow

Domani Matilde e Giulia canteranno nel coro

Tomorrow Matilde and Giulia will sing in the chorus

• Un giorno – One day

Un giorno ci rideremo su

One day we will laugh about this

• Stasera – Tonight, this evening

Letizia riceverà il premio stasera

This evening, Letizia will receive the award

• Domani mattina/pomeriggio/sera – Tomorrow morning/afternoon/evening

Domani mattina non sarò a casa

Tomorrow morning I will not be home

• La prossima settimana / il prossimo mese / il prossimo anno – Next week/month/year

Mia cugina Mara avrà un bambino il mese prossimo

My cousin Mara will have a baby next month

• Tra … giorni/settimane/mesi/anni – In …days/weeks/months/years

Tra due settimane sarà il nostro terzo anniversario di matrimonio

In two weeks, it will be our third wedding anniversary

• Mai più – Never again

Non tornerò mai più in quel ristorante	I will never go back to that restaurant again
Non mi vedrai mai più	You will never see me again

What’s the difference between futuro semplice and futuro anteriore?

In Italian, the future tense is made up of two tenses: the futuro semplice (future tense) and the futuro anteriore (future perfect), both belonging to the indicative mood.

As mentioned previously, the futuro semplice is used to talk about something that will happen in the close or distant future.

Un giorno canterò in un coro	One day I will sing in a choir
A metà settembre i bambini dovranno tornare a scuola	The children will have to go back to school in mid-September

The futuro anteriore expresses completion before a future reference point, or a guess about a past event. For a guess about the present, use futuro semplice: sarà occupato (“he is probably busy”). Compare sarà stato occupato (“he was probably busy”).

Emanuele non è venuto a lezione, sarà stato molto impegnato	Emanuele didn’t come to the class, he must have been very busy
Non ho più visto Pamela a scuola, probabilmente si sarà trasferita	I haven’t seen Pamela at school for a while; she has probably moved

You can also use the futuro anteriore when you are talking about an action in the future before something else happens.

Entro i 30 anni, avrai messo da parte abbastanza soldi per comprare una casa	By the age of 30, you will have saved enough money to buy a house
Alle nove avremo già cenato	By 9 p.m. we will already have had dinner

The Italian future perfect is also used to talk about what will have happened by a point in time in the future.

Domani a quest’ora sarò già arrivato a New York	By this time tomorrow I will have already arrived in New York
Entro la fine dell’anno Viviana avrà lavorato qui per 10 anni	By the end of the year, Viviana will have worked here for 10 years

To sum up…

• The futuro semplice is to be used to talk about something that will happen in the future.

Alberto venderà la sua moto per pagare i debiti

Alberto will sell his motorcycle to pay his debts

• Native Italian speakers use the present tense a lot to talk about their future plans.
• The simple future endings of regular -are and -ere verbs are -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete and -eranno.
• The simple future endings of regular -ire verbs are -irò, -irai, -irà, -iremo, -irete and -iranno.
• In Italian, both speculative and definite future are expressed with the futuro semplice, which is commonly used to express suppositions and doubts:

Qualcuno sta bussando alla porta, chi sarà mai?

Someone is knocking at the door, who could it be?