The Future Tense in Italian
The future tense in Italian, known as futuro, is similar to the English will + verb (I will eat) and is used to talk about actions that, of course, will happen in the future.
The Italian future has two tenses: the simple tense futuro semplice (simple future) and the compound tense futuro anteriore (future perfect).
Mio padre arriverà alle 21.
My dad will arrive at 21.
Vieni alle 21. A quell’ora avrò già cenato.
Come at 21. By that time, I will have had dinner already.
However, in Italian we can also use the future to make assumption and hypotheses, as you can see in these examples:
Quanti anni ha Giuseppe?
How old is Giuseppe?
Non so, avrà trent’anni…
I don’t know. He is probably thirty.
Quanto costerà una pizza?
How much do you think a pizza costs?
The Italian Future to Make Assumptions
Assumptions in the Present
To make assumptions in the present, we use the simple future. As you saw in the examples before, this can be translated in English by adding an adverb like “probably” or using an expression like “I think”.
Here are some more examples:
-Dov’è Giovanni?
-Non so, sarà uscito.
-Where is Giovanni?
-I do not know. He probably left.
Of course, this modality works with other constructions, like stare+ gerund or stare per + infinitive. In these cases, we have to conjugate the verb tense of the auxiliary.
Cosa sta facendo Lucia?
What is Lucia doing?
Starà studiando.
I guess she’s studying.
Perchè Marta sta correndo?
Why is Marta running?
Starà per perdere il treno.
She might be about to miss the train.
Assumptions in the Past
To make assumptions in the past we use the future perfect. Given the fact that futuro anteriore in Italian is a compound verb, always remember to differentiate essere vs avere when choosing the right auxiliary verb.
As a rule of thumb:
- Use essere as an auxiliary verb in compound tenses with intransitive verbs that take an indirect object and, therefore, require a preposition to link verb and object. These intransitive verbs usually indicate motion or a change of state.
- Use avere as an auxiliary verb in compound tenses with transitive verbs that select a direct object which requires no preposition to be introduced.
Have a look at the following examples:
Quanto ha pagato?
How much did he pay?
Non so, avrà pagato 50€.
I don’t know, probably 50€.
Dov’è andato Gabriele?
Where did Gabriele go?
Sarà andato in spiaggia.
I guess he went to the beach.
