Breakdown of Quando avremo chiuso il portone, sapremo di aver passato una giornata perfetta.
chiudere
to close
di
of
quando
when
noi
we
la giornata
the day
passare
to spend
sapere
to know
perfetto
perfect
il portone
the main gate
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Questions & Answers about Quando avremo chiuso il portone, sapremo di aver passato una giornata perfetta.
Why is avremo chiuso used instead of the simple future chiuderemo?
Avremo chiuso is the futuro anteriore (future perfect). We use it to refer to an action that will be completed before another future action or moment—in this case, before we “know” (sapremo). If you said chiuderemo, you’d simply be stating “we will close” in the future, without the idea of completion before the next event.
How do you form the futuro anteriore in Italian?
You combine the future of the auxiliary verb (either avere or essere) with the past participle of the main verb.
• For chiudere, which takes avere, you use:
• io avrò chiuso
• tu avrai chiuso
• lui/lei avrà chiuso
…and so on.
Why is there a di before aver passato in sapremo di aver passato?
In Italian, when you use sapere (to know) with an infinitive clause, you need the preposition di: sapere di + [infinito]. Here the infinitive is a past infinitive (aver passato, “to have spent”), which indicates that the spending of the day happens before the knowing.
Could you instead say sapremo che abbiamo passato una giornata perfetta?
Yes, you could. Sapremo che abbiamo passato… uses che + indicative present perfect (abbiamo passato) to report a fact. But it feels more like reporting evidence: “we’ll find out that we spent a perfect day,” whereas sapremo di aver passato emphasizes our awareness of having completed that perfect day at that future moment.
Why is giornata feminine, and why is perfetta also feminine?
Giornata (day) is a feminine noun in Italian. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. So perfetta is the feminine singular form of the adjective perfetto.
What exactly does portone mean, and how is it different from porta?
A porta is any door, typically interior or smaller. A portone is a large entrance door or gate (often the main entrance to a building or courtyard). Here it suggests the big front door of the house or building.
Why does the sentence start with Quando instead of Appena or Non appena?
Quando (“when”) introduces the idea of “as soon as” or “once.” You could also say Non appena avremo chiuso il portone… for “as soon as we have closed the door,” but Quando is perfectly natural and slightly more neutral.
Why is the past infinitive aver passato used instead of the regular infinitive passare?
The action of “spending” the day (passare una giornata) occurs before the moment of “knowing” (sapremo). To show that sequence when using di + infinitive, you need the past infinitive (aver passato) so that the timing is clear: first the day was spent, then later we know it.