Breakdown of L'astrologo dovrà dire la verità.
dovere
must
la verità
the truth
dire
to say, to tell
l'astrologo
the astrologer (m)
Questions & Answers about L'astrologo dovrà dire la verità.
Why is the verb dovrà and not "doverà"?
Dovrà is the lui/lei (he/she/it) future tense form of dovere (to have to / must). Dovere is an irregular verb in the future tense: it drops the "e" from its stem. So, instead of "dover-", the stem becomes dovr-. When you add the regular future ending -à, you get dovrà (he will have to).
Why is dire left in the infinitive (dictionary form) here?
Dire directly follows dovrà. Because dovere is a modal verb (a helping verb like "can", "want", or "must"), the main action verb that comes immediately after it stays in the infinitive. This structure is very similar to English: "he will have to tell".
Why doesn't Italian use a different word for "tell" in this sentence? Doesn't dire usually mean "to say"?
Both dovrà and verità end with an accent mark. Do they follow the same rule?