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. 

Using the futuro semplice 

In Italian, the futuro semplice is used to:

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

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

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:

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

Cantare (to sing)

Vendere (to sell)

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

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)

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)

Delegare (to 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)

Viaggiare (to travel)

That’s all there is to forming the simple future verb conjugations in Italian.

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. 

Essere (to be)

Io sarò 

Tu sarai 

Lui/lei sarà 

Noi saremo 

Voi sarete 

Avere (to have)

Io avrò

Tu avrai 

Lui/lei avrà

Noi avremo

Voi avrete

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

Dovere (to must, 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

The verbs fare (to do, to make), dare (to give) and stare (to stay, to be) simply drop the final -e of their infinitives and form the stems far-, dar- and star- respectively. These stems are then combined with the regular simple future endings listed above.

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?

Here is a list of marker words that are usually used with the futuro semplice in Italian:

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.

Typically you will use the futuro anteriore when you are unsure about something that is happening in the future or that happened in the past.

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

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

To sum up...