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In Italian, the future tenses aren't just for talking about tomorrow. They are frequently used to express guesses, probability, or doubts. When you want to say that someone "must be" somewhere or "might be" doing something right now, Italian uses the future tense. This is known as the *futuro epistemico*.

### The Simple Future for Present Guesses

When making a deduction about a present situation, use the simple future. Where English speakers usually say "must be" or "might be," Italian speakers just use the future tense.

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To emphasize your doubt, you can pair the future tense with expressions like **chissà** (who knows).

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### The Future Perfect for Past Guesses

When making a deduction about something that *already happened*, step back in time by using the **futuro anteriore** (future perfect). In English, this translates to "must have" or "might have" followed by a past participle.

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Remember that just like the *passato prossimo*, the *futuro anteriore* uses either **avere** or **essere** as a helping verb depending on the main action.

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### Modals for Probability

You can also put modal verbs—**dovere** (must/have to), **potere** (can/be able to), and **volere** (to want)—into the future tense to guess about someone's current needs, abilities, or desires.

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### Adding *Probabilmente*

To make your guess more explicit, you can add adverbs like **probabilmente** (probably). As you get comfortable with the *futuro epistemico*, you can even mix both future tenses in the same sentence if you are guessing about a present state and a past action at the same time.

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Future tenses for guesses and probability

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
the dentist	il dentista
Where is Maria? She must be at the dentist.	Dov'è Maria? Sarà dal dentista.
the workshop / the garage	l'officina
They must be coming from the workshop.	Verranno dall'officina.
who knows	chissà
the case / the pencil case	l'astuccio
Who knows what might be in the case!	Chissà che cosa ci sarà nell'astuccio!
the earphone	l'auricolare
Marco is looking for the earphone. He must have lost it.	Marco sta cercando l'auricolare. Lo avrà perso.
to put down / to lay	appoggiare
the nightstand	il comodino
I can't find the earphone. I must have put it down on the nightstand.	Non trovo l'auricolare. L'avrò appoggiato sul comodino.
the closet / the storage room	il ripostiglio
Who knows where they left the broom. They must have put it in the closet.	Chissà dove hanno lasciato la scopa. L'avranno messa nel ripostiglio.
The pencil case is empty. They must need to buy pencils.	L'astuccio è vuoto. Dovranno comprare le matite.
Marco is not answering. He must not be able to talk.	Marco non risponde. Non potrà parlare.
Where did Luca go? He must have gone to the workshop.	Dov'è andato Luca? Sarà andato in officina.
They are looking for the backpack. They must have put it in the closet.	Stanno cercando lo zaino. Lo avranno messo nel ripostiglio.
Who knows why they are late! They must want to eat first.	Chissà perché sono in ritardo! Vorranno mangiare prima.
We must have lost the tickets. We'll have to wait.	Avremo perso i biglietti. Dovremo aspettare.
probably	probabilmente
to lose / to misplace	smarrire
He must have placed the watch on the bedside table and probably misplaced it.	Avrà appoggiato l'orologio sul comodino e probabilmente lo avrà smarrito.
Marco is probably at the dentist, or he must have misplaced the address.	Marco sarà probabilmente dal dentista, o avrà smarrito l'indirizzo.

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