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L'esame finirà in venti minuti.

L'esame finirà in venti minuti.
The exam will finish in twenty minutes.
From Lesson 390:Time duration vs. time elapsed (in vs. tra)·Italian

Questions & Answers about L'esame finirà in venti minuti.

Does in venti minuti mean the exam will end twenty minutes from now?
No, and this is a classic trap for English speakers! In Italian, the preposition in followed by a unit of time describes the duration required to complete an action. This sentence specifically means the exam takes exactly twenty minutes to complete from start to finish.
How would I translate the English meaning "The exam will finish twenty minutes from now"?
You would need to use tra or fra. To talk about time elapsed before a future event starts or happens, you would say L'esame finirà tra venti minuti or L'esame finirà fra venti minuti. Both prepositions mean exactly the same thing.
If I use a continuous verb instead of finirà, does the meaning of in change?
The core rule stays the same: it still indicates the time required to complete the task. For example, if you say Scriverò l'esame in venti minuti (I will write the exam in twenty minutes), it means the entire process of writing it will be completed within a twenty-minute timeframe.
Could I just use the present tense finisce instead of the future tense finirà here?
Yes. Just like in English, Italians frequently use the present tense for scheduled future events. L'esame finisce in venti minuti is perfectly natural and common in spoken Italian, though finirà sounds slightly more formal or definitive.

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