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Irregular Verbs in the Future Tense Posted by on Dec 30, 2009 in Grammar

In my previous blog ‘I Propositi per l’anno Nuovo’ I explained the construction and use of the future tense. Today’s blog will cover some of the most important irregular verbs in this tense.

The first group of irregular verbs omits the vowel at the beginning of the future tense suffix, hence –erò, -erai etc. becomes –rò, –rai, etc. Here are some of the most common ones:

andare (to go): andrò, andrai, andrà, andremo, andrete, andranno

avere (to have): avrò, avrai, avrà, avremo, avrete, avranno

bere (to drink): berrò, berrai, berrà, berremo, berrete, berranno

cadere (to fall): cadrò, cadrai, cadrà, cadremo, cadrete, cadranno

dovere (to have to): dovrò, dovrai, dovrà, dovremo, dovrete, dovranno

potere (to be able to): potrò, potrai, potrà, potremo, potrete, potranno

sapere (to know): saprò, saprai, saprà, sapremo, saprete, sapranno

vedere (to see): vedrò, vedrai, vedrà, vedremo, vedrete, vedranno

vivere (to live) : vivrò, vivrai, vivrà, vivremo, vivrete, vivranno

for example:

quando andrò a Parigi vedrò finalmente la Torre Eiffel (when I go to Paris I will finally see the Eiffel Tower);

purtroppo Mario e Michele non potranno venire in Italia l’estate prossima (unfortunately Mario and Michele will not be able to come to Italy next summer).

 

Some irregular verbs change their root in the future tense. These are the most common ones:

essere (to be): sarò, sarai, sarà, saremo, sarete, saranno

rimanere (to remain): rimarrò, rimarrai, rimarrà, rimarremo, rimarrete, rimarranno

tenere (to hold): terrò, terrai, terrà, terremo, terrete, terranno

venire (to come): verrò, verrai, verrà, verremo, verrete, verranno

volere (to want): vorrò, vorrai, vorrà, vorremo, vorrete, vorranno

for example:

le previsioni del tempo dicono che domani sarà molto freddo (the weather forecast say that tomorrow will be very cold);

Giorgio e Mirella verranno a Lucca sabato prossimo e ci rimarranno per una settimana (Giorgio and Mirella will come to Lucca next Saturday and will stay for a week).

 

Another group of verbs which have infinitives ending in –care  and –gare, e.g pagare (to pay) and giocare (to play) add an –h- before the future endings, so that –erò, –erai, etc. become –herò, -herai etc. This is done in order to maintain the hard c and g sounds, e.g. pagherò and giocherò.

For example:

non ti preoccupare, mi pagherai la settimana prossima (don’t worry, you can pay me next week. literally: you will pay me next week);

la sera di Capodanno giocheremo a tombola (on New Year’s Eve we will play tombola). 

However, verbs with infinitives ending in –ciare and –giare, e.g. cominciare (to start) and mangiare (to eat) drop the –i- from the stem in the future. This is done in order to maintain the soft c and g sounds, e.g. comincerò and mangerò.

For example:

il corso di nuoto comincerà il 7 gennaio (the swimming course will start on the 7th of January);

mangeremo alle otto (we will eat at eight o’clock).

 

Alla prossima puntata.

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Comments:

  1. Vince Mooney:

    Salve Serena:

    ‘I Propositi per l’anno Nuovo’ seem to be the same from country to country. Can you think of any ‘Propositi per l’anno Nuovo’ that are uniquely Italian?

    Vince

  2. Joey:

    Hi, thanks for the great posts. I have a question regarding the example using “pagare.”

    What is the difference between saying:

    “Non ti preoccupare, mi pagherai la settimana prossima.” (the example used in the article)

    and

    “Non ti preoccupare, mi puoi pagare la settimana prossima.”

    I understand that the first example literally means “you will pay me next week,” but you said it could also be translated as “you can pay me next week.” I’m sure it depends on the context. I was just curious what the difference was between the two sentences above.

    Grazie mille in anticipo =)

  3. Serena:

    Salve Vince, I don’t think that there are any ‘propositi per l’anno nuovo’ that are uniquely Italian. What seems to me to be more typically Italian is the total lack of perseverance in any sort of project.

    Auguri di Buon Anno, Serena

  4. Serena:

    Salve Joey, grammatically both sentences are correct, but in Italian we normally use the first one: “Non ti preoccupare, mi pagherai la settimana prossima”, which literally translates: “don’t worry, you will pay me next week”. However, I know that this sentence is not normally used in English, and that you would say instead “don’t worry, you can pay me next week”. This is one of the many subtle differences between Italian and English.

    Auguri di Buon Anno, Serena


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