The futuro semplice — Italian's simple future — is the kind of tense that earns goodwill from learners. After the asymmetries of the presente (different endings for -are, -ere, -ire) and the chaos of the passato remoto, the futuro arrives with a single set of endings that works for every regular verb in the language. Six endings. One pattern. Almost no exceptions in the endings themselves. The only catches are an orthographic shift in the -are class, a handful of spelling adjustments to preserve hard c/g sounds, and a closed list of irregular stems — irregular in the stem only, never in the endings. This page lays out the architecture; the dedicated pages on regular formation and irregular stems handle the details.
The endings — uniform across all three conjugations
This is the central fact of the futuro: the same six endings serve every regular verb, regardless of whether its infinitive ends in -are, -ere, or -ire.
| Person | Ending |
|---|---|
| io | -ò |
| tu | -ai |
| lui / lei / Lei | -à |
| noi | -emo |
| voi | -ete |
| loro | -anno |
Two of these endings carry mandatory written accents — the io form (-ò) and the lui/lei form (-à). These are not optional; parlerò without the accent is a misspelling, and parlero would (incorrectly) suggest stress on the penultimate syllable. The grave accent in -ò and -à indicates that the stress falls on the final vowel and that the vowel is open.
Formation: infinitive minus -e, plus ending
The mechanical recipe is simple: take the infinitive, drop the final -e, and attach the future ending.
| Class | Infinitive | Step 1: drop -e | Step 2: add ending |
|---|---|---|---|
| -are | parlare | parlar- | parlarò → parlerò (see below) |
| -ere | credere | creder- | crederò |
| -ire | dormire | dormir- | dormirò |
For -ere and -ire verbs, this is the whole story. For -are verbs, there is one further step.
The -are trap: theme vowel a → e
This is the single most important fact about the regular futuro and the most reliable giveaway of a non-native speaker. In the -are class, the theme vowel -a- of the infinitive shifts to -e- before the future ending. So parlare becomes parler-, not parlar-. The full conjugation is parlerò, parlerai, parlerà, parleremo, parlerete, parleranno — never parlarò, parlarai, etc.
Domani parlerò con il direttore.
Tomorrow I'll speak with the director.
Lavorerai anche sabato?
Will you work on Saturday too?
Compreremo una macchina nuova l'anno prossimo.
We'll buy a new car next year.
The historical reason is that the futuro was originally a periphrasis (Vulgar Latin parlare habeo "I have to speak") that fused into a single word. The vowel shift smooths the seam. As a learner you don't need to know the etymology, but recognizing that the e in parlerò is the same e you find in credere helps the pattern feel less arbitrary.
Spelling adjustments in -are verbs
Two -are subclasses need orthographic tweaks to keep the stem's pronunciation intact when the e of the ending arrives.
| Stem ends in | Adjustment | Example | Result (io) |
|---|---|---|---|
| hard -c- (cercare, giocare, dimenticare) | insert h | cercare | cercherò |
| hard -g- (pagare, pregare, spiegare) | insert h | pagare | pagherò |
| soft -ci- (cominciare, lasciare, baciare) | drop the i | cominciare | comincerò |
| soft -gi- (mangiare, viaggiare) | drop the i | mangiare | mangerò |
The logic is purely orthographic: the e of the ending would otherwise change the c/g sounds, so we either insert a silent h to keep them hard or drop the redundant i that no longer needs to soften them.
Cercheremo un appartamento più grande.
We'll look for a bigger apartment.
Pagherò io stasera, hai pagato tu l'ultima volta.
I'll pay tonight, you paid last time.
Cosa mangerai a pranzo?
What will you eat for lunch?
For the full set of spelling rules across all tenses, see spelling changes overview. For the full -are/-ere/-ire futuro paradigms, see regular formation.
Irregular stems
A closed list of about 25 verbs — but they are among the most frequent verbs in the language — have irregular future stems. Critically, the endings are still perfectly regular. Whatever the stem, you always add -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, -ete, -anno.
| Verb | Stem | io form |
|---|---|---|
| essere | sar- | sarò |
| avere | avr- | avrò |
| andare | andr- | andrò |
| fare | far- | farò |
| venire | verr- | verrò |
| volere | vorr- | vorrò |
These same irregular stems also serve the condizionale. Learn them once, use them in two tenses. See irregular stems for the full list and the patterns that organize them.
What the futuro is used for
1. Future events and predictions
L'anno prossimo finirò l'università.
Next year I'll finish university.
Domani pioverà tutto il giorno secondo le previsioni.
It'll rain all day tomorrow according to the forecast.
2. Promises and intentions
Ti chiamerò appena arrivo a casa, te lo prometto.
I'll call you as soon as I get home, I promise.
3. Suppositions about the present (a key non-future use)
This is the use that most surprises English speakers. Italian uses the futuro to guess about something happening right now — a usage close to English must be or probably is.
Che ore sono? — Saranno le tre, più o meno.
What time is it? — It must be around three.
Dov'è Marco? — Boh, sarà ancora al lavoro.
Where's Marco? — Dunno, he's probably still at work.
Quanti anni avrà tuo nonno?
How old must your grandfather be?
This is a major idiomatic use and one of the most natural ways to express conjecture in Italian. See futuro di modestia for the full treatment.
Spoken Italian uses the presente for near-future events
In casual conversation, especially for events scheduled in the near future, Italians frequently use the presente instead of the futuro — the way English uses the present for I'm leaving tomorrow.
Domani parto per Roma.
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Rome. (presente, perfectly natural)
Domani partirò per Roma.
Tomorrow I'll leave for Rome. (futuro, slightly more formal or definitive)
The futuro carries a flavor of greater commitment, distance, or formality. For "I'll meet you at six," many native speakers would say ci vediamo alle sei, not ci vedremo alle sei. Don't overuse the futuro; let context guide the choice.
Common mistakes
❌ Domani parlarò con il direttore.
Incorrect — the -a- of -are shifts to -e- in the futuro. The form is parlerò, not parlarò.
✅ Domani parlerò con il direttore.
Correct — parler- is the futuro stem of parlare.
❌ Cercaremo un appartamento.
Incorrect — cercare needs both the a→e shift AND the silent h. The form is cercheremo.
✅ Cercheremo un appartamento.
Correct — h preserves the hard c, e replaces a.
❌ Mangieremo a casa stasera.
Incorrect — mangiare drops the silent i before e. The form is mangeremo, not mangieremo.
✅ Mangeremo a casa stasera.
Correct — one i is enough; the e is soft anyway.
❌ Domani parlero con lui.
Incorrect — the io form requires the grave accent: parlerò. Without it, the spelling is wrong and the stress is ambiguous.
✅ Domani parlerò con lui.
Correct — io form takes -ò with mandatory written accent.
❌ Will essere domani in ufficio.
Incorrect (and this isn't even Italian) — but the point is: don't combine an English future with an Italian infinitive. The whole thing is encoded in the verb form.
✅ Sarò in ufficio domani.
Correct — sarò is the io futuro of essere; no auxiliary needed.
Key takeaways
Six endings cover everything: -ò, -ai, -à, -emo, -ete, -anno. Every regular verb takes them.
The io and lui/lei forms require written accents (parlerò, parlerà). Missing the accent is a spelling error, not a stylistic choice.
-are verbs shift theme vowel a → e in the futuro: parlare → parlerò, mangiare → mangerò. Never parlarò.
Spelling adjustments in -care/-gare/-ciare/-giare preserve sound: cercherò, pagherò, mangerò, comincerò.
Irregular stems are stem-only; endings are always regular. Learn them once and reuse them in the condizionale.
The futuro guesses about the present as well as predicting the future. Saranno le tre = "it must be three." This is everyday Italian, not just a textbook curiosity.
For the regular conjugation tables, continue to regular formation. For the closed list of irregular stems, see irregular stems.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Futuro Semplice: Regular VerbsA2 — How to conjugate regular -are, -ere, and -ire verbs in the simple future — and how to navigate the small but unforgiving orthographic gymnastics of the -are class.
- Futuro Semplice: Irregular StemsA2 — The closed list of about 25 Italian verbs with irregular future stems — organized by pattern, learnable in an afternoon, and reusable in the conditional.
- Futuro Anteriore: FormationB1 — How to build Italian's compound future — the futuro semplice of avere or essere plus the past participle — with all the auxiliary and agreement rules of the passato prossimo carrying straight over.
- Futuro di Modestia and Epistemic FutureB1 — The reason 'sarà' so often translates as 'must be' rather than 'will be' — Italian uses the future tense for present-time guesses, hedged claims, and modest assertions where English uses modal verbs.
- Il Condizionale: OverviewA2 — The Italian conditional is a mood, not a tense — it expresses what would, could, or should happen. This page surveys both its tenses, its five core uses, and why learning it alongside the future cuts your work in half.
- Presente Indicativo: OverviewA1 — How Italian's most-used tense covers everything English splits between simple present and present progressive — and why 'sto facendo' is not the default.