Question 1

Why is the verb dovrà and not "doverà"?

Accepted Answer

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).

Question 2

Why is dire left in the infinitive (dictionary form) here?

Accepted Answer

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".

Question 3

Why doesn't Italian use a different word for "tell" in this sentence? Doesn't dire usually mean "to say"?

Accepted Answer

Dire translates to both "to say" and "to tell" when you are communicating facts or information. The set phrase for "to tell the truth" is always dire la verità. You would only use a different verb, like raccontare, when "telling" a story, a joke, or recounting an event.

Question 4

Both dovrà and verità end with an accent mark. Do they follow the same rule?

Accepted Answer

They have accents for different reasons! For verbs in the future tense like dovrà, the io and lui/lei forms always end in a stressed, accented vowel (-ò and -à). For the noun la verità, the accent is simply part of the word's permanent spelling. A handy tip: nouns that end in an accented vowel are invariable, meaning they don't change their ending in the plural (so "the truths" is le verità).

L'astrologo dovrà dire la verità.

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