Sup?

I suspect (if you are learning Italian) that you are expecting dormiro, dormirai and so on. But no, you will have to go somewhere else for that.

I ‘m writing about how to use the future, or more accurately about how not to use the future. In part, dear reader, it is to help you, but mainly as is so neatly encapsulated because Qui docet discit and also Qui scribit bis legit.

Honestly, who said Latin was going out of fashion;) It’s so easy to be pompous, and in this heathen age, very few people will have the nerve to correct you.

Back to Italian, if you have planned to do something, or are about to do something in Italian, how do you express yourself?

You could use the future tense.

But it is more usual to use the present tense:

Vado a Roma.

I’m going to Rome

Or

Vado a Roma domani

I’m going to Rome tomorrow

In fact, the future tense is not that frequently used in Italian to talk about what you are *definitely* doing.

It is used when there is a doubt of some sort.

Domani, andrò al cinema se …

Tomorrow I’ll go to the cinema if …

Tomorrow, I’l go to the cinema *if*, it isn’t raining or if you will come with me, and so on. I.e. It isn’t certain.

Domani, andrò al cinema se vieni anche tu

Tomorrow, I’ll go to the cinema if you come as well.

Note that there is no messing about with the subject, conditional or any other tense. The present tense is used all the way through. Sweet.

That is the first use covered.

Using the future to express doubt

The future (and by the I mean the *real* future tense) is used to express doubt in Italian.

An easy example is:

Che ore sono?

What time is it?

If you have looked at your watch or more likely at your phone, and know the time, you might reply with:

Sono le sei

It’s six o’clock.

What happens if you aren’t sure of the exact time. In English, we might say, it’s about six, or I think it’s about six o’clock.

In we are speaking Italian, we use the future tense.

Saranno le sei

It’s about six

Here is another example, C’e can be used to check if someone is somewhere, so

C’e il tuo figlio qui?

Is your son here?

If you don’t know, you can answer

Ci sarà qui

He’ll be here

It sort of means, he’s probably here somewhere. He could be somewhere else.

Maybe he is at the swimming pool?

Sarà in piscina.

He could be there. He could be somewhere else.

Sarà in piscina has the same meaning as:

Forse è in piscina.

Maybe he is in in the pool?

I’ll add to this as further examples spring to mind.

Besos etc.

MooNFacE