Italian Future Tense: An Easy Step-by-Step Guide (FREE PDF 📚)

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Life is full of burning questions about the future:What will the weather be like on my vacation? Will I ever meet my soulmate? Will my plants survive another week without water? While you can’t control everything, the good news is that you can control how you talk about the future in Italian. 

Learning the Italian future tense is a must for discussing plans, making predictions, and even expressing doubts or guesses with ease and confidence.

In this guide, you’ll not only learn how to conjugate the future tense but also how to navigate its many uses—like expressing assumptions and avoiding common mistakes that even advanced learners make.

And here’s the twist: the future tense isn’t just for talking about what’s ahead. Stick around to find out the surprising ways Italians express other ideas!

But first, make sure to download your free PDF cheat-sheet, which includes all the key points we’ll cover in this guide. Just enter your email below and I’ll send it to you straight away.

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Table to Contents

Here’s what we’ll cover in this guide. Click on any title to jump to each section.

• What is the Italian future tense?
• How to form the simple future tense in Italian
  • Regular verbs in the simple future
  • Irregular verbs in the simple future
• 10 Ways to use the simple future in Italian
• How to form the future perfect tense in Italian
• 4 Ways to use the future perfect in Italian
• Using the present tense for future actions
• 7 phrases to talk about the future in Italian
• The difference between the Italian future tense and English future tense

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What is the Italian Future tense?

The Italian future tense is used to talk about actions or events that will happen later in time, for instance:

• Domani chiamerò Enzo – Tomorrow, I will call Enzo
• La settimana prossima nevicherà – Next week, it will snow

This verb form belongs to the indicative mood, which is the mood used to state facts or describe reality. In Italian, the future tense comes in two forms:

• the simple future (futuro semplice), which, as its name suggests, is used when something will happen in the future, like L’anno prossimo vivrò a Londra (Next year, I will live in London).
• the future perfect (futuro anteriore), which is used to talk about actions that will be completed before another event in the future, like Quando arriverai, io avró già mangiato (When you arrive, I will have already eaten).

The Italian future tense is quite simple to learn, and you will use it frequently in everyday speech. It’s not limited to talking about the future—it can also express orders, guesses, personal views, and more. In the following sections, we’ll explore how to form the future tense in Italian. We’ll look at regular and irregular verbs, and discuss the rules and exceptions. For practice, check out the Italian song“Che Sarà” by I Ricchi e Poveri which uses the future tense beautifully!

How to form the simple future tense in Italian

Forming the simple future of verbs is easy because the endings are the same for all verbs, whether they’re regular or irregular! Once you learn the pattern, talking about the future will be un gioco da ragazzi (child’s play)!

Regular verbs in the simple future

To form the simple future of regular verbs, follow these steps:

1. Take the infinitive form of the verb 
2. Drop the final -e from the infinitive
3. Add the appropriate simple future endings based on the subject pronoun

For verbs ending in -are, there’s an additional step: you need to change the -a in the root to -e before adding the future endings. For example, cantare (to sing) becomes canter. Here’s a table with the simple future endings for all verbs:

Irregular verbs in the simple future

While most verbs are regular in the Italian future tense, some are irregular. The good news? These verbs usually feature only small spelling changes, and they still use the same endings as regular verbs. Additionally, these irregular patterns also appear in the conditional mood, so it’s like learning two tenses at once!Here are the main irregularities:

1. As usual, essere (to be) and avere (to have) are irregular

2. For verbs ending in -CIARE and -GIARE, drop the I from the infinitive when forming the future tense. As with all -are verbs, remember to change the -a to -e before adding the future ending:

3. For verbs ending in -CARE e -GARE, you need to add an H before the simple future endings to preserve the hard sound of c and g. Also, as with all -are verbs, change the -a to -e:

4. In Some -ERE Verbs, the E in the root is dropped before adding the simple future endings. The verbandare (to go), which is an -are verb, follows this rule:

5. Some verbs drop part of their root and double the R in the simple future tense:

6. Some -are verbs retain the -a of the infinitive in their root instead of switching it to -e. These include:

10 Ways to use the simple future in Italian 

There are many situations where the simple future tense is used in Italian. Here’s when and how to apply it:

1. To talk about actions or plans that are planned or expected to occur:

• La prossima estate andremo in Sardegna — Next summer we will go to Sardinia 
• Sabato suoneremo al compleanno di Guido — On Saturday, we will play at Guido’s birthday party

Attenzione: In indirect speech, the simple future is expressed using the past conditional when the reporting verb is in a past tense:

• “Andremo a Bologna” (We’ll go to Bologna) → Hanno detto che sarebbero andati a Bologna (They said that they would have gone to Bologna)

2. To express an opinion in a way that feels less direct, usually with the expression ti dirò (literally, I’ll tell you):

• Ti dirò, non penso che sia così sbagliato — I’ll tell you, I don’t think it’s that wrong.
• Sono sicura che sarà un successo — I’m sure it will be a success

3. To express guesses, suppositions, or hypothesis:

• Non trovo mia sorella, sarà ancora in biblioteca? — I can’t find my sister; could she still be in the library?
• È tardi, avrai fame — It’s late, you must be hungry

4. To give orders and instructions with a future implication, instead of using the usualimperative mood:

• Uscirai quando lo dico io, chiaro? — You’ll leave when I say so, understood?
• Adesso andrai da lui e gli chiederai scusa! — Now you’ll go to him and apologize!

5. To express doubt or uncertainty about a situation: 

• Cosa saranno queste macchie sul muro? — What could these stains on the wall be?
• Il capo ha cancellato la riunione? Mah, avrà altro da fare — The boss canceled the meeting? Well, he must have something else to do.

6. For announcements in public places, like train stations or airports:

• Il treno delle ore 8:15 per Firenze Santa Maria Novella partirà dal binario 1 — The 8:15 train to Firenze Santa Maria Novella will depart from platform 1
• Il volo per Roma subirà un ritardo di 30 minuti — The flight to Rome will be delayed by 30 minutes

7. To make predictions or forecast events:

• Tra qualche anno tutte le scuole saranno digitalizzate — In a few years, all schools will be digitalised 
• Tra qualche mese la situazione migliorerà — In a few months, the situation will improve

8. To make promises:

• Non dirò niente a nessuno, promesso! — I won’t tell anyone, promise!
• Promettimi che verrai a trovarmi più spesso! — Promise me that you’ll come visit me more often!

9. To emphasize that a situation is true but not that important:

• Avrà anche ottant’anni, ma ha la mente più brillante di molti giovani — He may be 80 years old, but his mind is sharper than that of many young people.
• Sarà anche un bel posto, ma non c’è niente da fare —It may be a nice place, but there’s nothing to do here.

10. The simple future is also frequently used in set phrases that give conversations a natural, idiomatic feel:

• Hai studiato tutta la notte? Capirai! Non sei né il primo né l’ultimo! — Did you study all night? Big deal! You’re neither the first nor the last!
• Ammetterai che hanno avuto un gran coraggio a parlare in quel modo — You’ll admit that they had a lot of courage to speak that way.

How to form the future perfect tense in Italian

The future perfect is a compound tense, meaning it is formed with two elements:

• The future simple of the auxiliary verb essere (to be) or avere (to have), depending on the main verb you’re using
• The past participle of the main verb 

Let’s break this down to make it clear.

Essere (to be) is used as the auxiliary for the verb essere itself and with intransitive verbs, which are those that do not need a direct object. These typically include verbs of movement or state. In this case, the past participle must conform to the gender and number of the subject it refers to.

The auxiliary avere (to have), on the other hand, is used with the verb avere itself and with transitive verbs, which are those that require a direct object. In this case, the past participle remains in the singular masculine form.

4 Ways to use the future perfect in Italian

In Italian, the future perfect is helpful for discussing hypothetical situations and for expressing assumptions or doubts about past events. Here’s when to use it:

1. To talk about an event or action that will be completed before another event or action happens in the future. This structure is often introduced by words like quando (when) or dopo che (after):

• Quando avrai finito di mangiare, andrai a giocare – When you have finished eating, you will go play.
• Dopo che avrò imparato l’italiano, andrò a Firenze per qualche mese -After I have learned Italian, I will go to Florence for a few months

2. To take a guess or make an assumption about something that happened in the past:

• Sarà capitato anche a te di dimenticare un appuntamento – You must have also forgotten an appointment.
• Per arrivare in tempo in aeroporto, avranno dovuto chiamare un taxi – To get to the airport on time, they must have had to call a taxi.

3. You can also use the future perfect to express doubt or question something related to past events:

• Dove avrò messo gli occhiali? – Where could I have put my glasses?
• Quando sarà passato il corriere? Io non ho visto nessuno – When might the courier have passed by? I didn’t see anyone.

4. To express a concession about something that happened in the past, indicating that, although something might have been true, the result was negative or contradictory:

• Chiara avrà anche fatto una bella presentazione, ma non ha risposto alle domande – Chiara may have made a great presentation, but she didn’t answer the questions
• Sarà stato anche un bel giro, ma il traffico ci ha fatto perdere molto tempo – It may have been a nice trip, but the traffic made us lose a lot of time.

Using the present tense for future actions 

In Italian, it’s common to use the present tense when talking about future events, especially in casual, everyday conversations. This is especially true for plans or events that are certain to happen. For instance:

• Tra una settimana arriva mia sorella (In a week, my sister arrives) instead of Tra una settimana arriverà mia sorella (In a week, my sister will arrive)
• Venite anche voi al cinema domani? (Are you coming to the cinema tomorrow too?) instead of Verrete anche voi al cinema domani? (Will you come to the cinema tomorrow too?)

In both examples, time expressions like domani (tomorrow) or tra una settimana (in a week) already indicate that we’re talking about the future. Because of this, using the future tense might sound a bit redundant and the present tense does the job just fine!

However, there’s a subtle difference between the present and future tenses in terms of meaning. While both can refer to future actions, the future tense often carries a sense of expectation or excitement, while the present tense feels more routine and certain.Let’s compare two similar sentences:

• Il prossimo mese vedo Claudio – Next month I see Claudio
• Il prossimo mese vedrò Claudio – Next month I will see Claudio

Both refer to the future, but the first sentence uses vedo (I see – present tense), which makes it sound like seeing Claudio is just a normal part of your plan. The second sentence with vedrò (I will see – future tense) adds a bit more emotional weight, suggesting that you’re looking forward to it. 

7 Phrases to talk about the future in Italian 

In Italian, future actions can be conveyed in various ways, not just with the future tense, making the language more expressive and varied. The most common expressions include:

Stare per (be about to) + infinitive 

• Sto per entrare in riunione, cosa c’è? – I’m about to go into a meeting, what’s up?

Essere sul punto di (be about to/be on the verge of/be on the brink of) + infinitive

• Sara è sul punto di crollare – Sara is about to break down

Essere in procinto di (be about to/on the verge of/in the process of) + infinitive

This one is slightly more formal.

• I signori Rossi sono in procinto di traslocare – The Rossis are about to move

Avere intenzione di (to intend to) + infinitive

• Ho intenzione di fare una lunga vacanza – I intend to take a long vacation

Accingersi a (be about to/to get ready to) + infinitive

This is also rather formal.

• Il governo si accinge a emanare una nuova legge – The government is about to issue/pass a new law

Pensare di (to think about) + infinitive

• Penso di andare in montagna a Natale – I’m thinking about going to the mountains for Christmas

Essere lì lì per (be about to/just about to) + infinitive 

This is very informal.

• Sono lì lì per vincere la partita, manca solo un punto! – They are about to win the game, they just need one more point!

The difference between the Italian future tense and English future tense

The concept of the future in English and Italian is approached quite differently. While English has several ways to express future actions depending on the context, Italian relies more consistently on its future tense.

For example, in English we often use the present continuous to discuss future plans or scheduled events, like “I’m going to Italy this summer.” But in Italian, the present continuous (anything with an -ing – going, doing etc) is only used for actions happening right now and this sentence would need to be translated with the simple future: Andrò in Italia quest’estate. This is a good example of why direct translation from English to Italian can lead to errors.Here’s a table that summarizes how future actions are expressed in English and Italian:

Another important difference between English and Italian is how the future tense is used in time clauses introduced by words like quando (when) or dopo (after). In English, we don’t use the future tense in these clauses. Instead, we use the present tense for the time clause and the future tense in the main clause. For example, we’d say: “I’ll text you when we land.” But in Italian, the equivalent sentence would be Ti manderò un messaggio quando atterreremo (I’ll text you when we land) because the future tense is generally used in both the main clause and the time clause.

That said, in informal spoken Italian you’ll often hear the present tense used in the time clause, mirroring English. For example: Ti mando un messaggio quando atterriamo (I’ll text you when we land). Another common informal variation is to use the infinitive in the time clause, like Ti mando un messaggio dopo essere atterrati (I’ll text you after we land).Finally, in English, the future tense with “will” is also used to make polite requests, as in the sentence, “Will you pass me the bread, please?” However, in Italian, such sentences cannot be expressed using the future tense. Instead, they require a different structure, typically the present indicative (Mi passi il pane, per favore?) or conditional mood (Mi passeresti il pane, per favore?).

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