The future tense, called futuro semplice in Italian, is used to talk about actions and events that will happen in the future. It is useful for describing plans, making predictions, and saying what someone will do tomorrow, next week, or later. In English, the Italian future tense often corresponds to will followed by a verb, as in I will work or we will leave. Unlike English, which normally uses a separate word to express the future, Italian changes the ending of the verb itself.
Forming the Future Tense
Most Italian verbs follow a regular pattern in the future tense. Verbs ending in -are and -ere use the same future endings: -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno. To form the future, remove the final -are or -ere from the infinitive and add the appropriate ending. For example, parlare becomes parlerò (I will speak), and prendere becomes prenderò (I will take). Verbs ending in -ire follow a similar pattern, but their endings begin with -i- instead of -e-: -irò, -irai, -irà, -iremo, -irete, -iranno. For example, dormire becomes dormirò (I will sleep). The ending changes according to the subject, while the basic future stem remains the same. In verbs ending in -care and -gare, the letter h is added to keep the hard sound of c or g, as in cercare → cercherò (I will look for) and pagare → pagherò (I will pay). Also, forms such as parlerò and parlerà always require a written accent on the final vowel.
parlare → parlerò — to speak → I will speak
prendere → prenderò — to take → I will take
dormire → dormirò — to sleep → I will sleep
Common Irregular Verbs and Everyday Uses
Some of the most common Italian verbs have irregular future stems, although they use the same future endings as regular verbs. Important examples include essere (to be), which uses the stem sar-, avere (to have), which uses avr-, andare (to go), which uses andr-, and fare (to do or make), which uses far-. These forms must be learned individually, but once you know the irregular stem, you can add the usual endings to form the other persons. For example, andare gives andrò (I will go), andrai (you will go), and andrà (he or she will go). At the A1 level, learning these frequent irregular verbs is more useful than memorizing a long list of exceptions.
Domani andrò al cinema. — Tomorrow I will go to the movies.
La prossima settimana sarò a Roma. — Next week I will be in Rome.
The future tense is often used with expressions such as domani (tomorrow), stasera (tonight), and la settimana prossima (next week). These expressions make it clear when an action will happen, but they are not required. The future can also express predictions, as in Domani pioverà (It will rain tomorrow). In everyday conversation, Italian speakers often use the present tense instead of the future when talking about plans that are already decided, especially when a time expression makes the meaning clear. For example, Domani parto and Domani partirò can both describe a plan to leave tomorrow. The present tense is particularly common when the future time is already clear from the context. In negative sentences, non comes immediately before the future verb, as in non lavorerò (I won't work).
Domani parto per Milano. — I'm leaving for Milan tomorrow.
Domani partirò per Milano. — I will leave for Milan tomorrow.
Non lavorerò domenica. — I won't work on Sunday.
Summary of the Italian Future Tense
| Verb group or type | Main rule | Future endings or stem | Example |
| -are and -ere | Replace the infinitive ending with the future endings | -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno | Parlerò. — I will speak. |
| -ire | Replace -ire with the future endings | -irò, -irai, -irà, -iremo, -irete, -iranno | Dormirò. — I will sleep. |
| Essere | Uses an irregular future stem | sar- | Sarò a casa. — I will be home. |
| Avere | Uses an irregular future stem | avr- | Avrò tempo. — I will have time. |
| Andare | Uses an irregular future stem | andr- | Andrò a Roma. — I will go to Rome. |
| Fare | Uses an irregular future stem | far- | Farò colazione. — I will have breakfast. |