Learn Italian: L'astrologo non potrà sapere tutto. - The astrologer will not be able to know everything.

L'astrologo non potrà sapere tutto.

The astrologer will not be able to know everything.

Breakdown of L'astrologo non potrà sapere tutto.

Questions & Answers about L'astrologo non potrà sapere tutto.

Why is the future tense of potere spelled as potrà and not poterà?

Potere (to be able to) is one of a special group of verbs that drops a vowel in its future stem. Instead of using the regular poter- stem, it drops the letter 'e' to become potr-. Then you add the regular he/she/it future ending -à to get potrà.

Since sapere is also a verb with an irregular future stem, why is it not conjugated in the future tense here?

In this sentence, sapere (to know) follows potrà, which is a modal (or helper) verb. Just like in English, when you use a modal verb, the verb that comes right after it stays in its basic dictionary form (the infinitive). The first verb (potrà) already tells us the action happens in the future.

Why do we use sapere instead of conoscere for 'to know' in this sentence?

You use sapere when you are talking about knowing facts, information, or knowing how to do something. Since the astrologer is trying to know everything (tutto) as a collection of facts, sapere is the correct choice. You would use conoscere if you were talking about being familiar with a person or a place.

If I wanted to say 'The astrologer will know everything' without using 'able to', how would I conjugate sapere?