As usual, whether you use essere or avere will depend on the verb you are conjugating. Have a look at our post on avere vs. essere in compound tenses for a quick reminder!
The Italian futuro anteriore (future perfect or past of the future) is mainly used in the following cases:
to talk about an action that will have already finished before another action occurs in the future:
Per stasera avrò finito di guardare questa serie televisiva.
By tonight I will have finished watching this tv show.
to make hypotheses about the reason something happened:
Perché Marco ha portato la macchina dal meccanico? Si sarà accorto che ha un guasto.
Why did Marco take the car to the mechanic? He must have noticed it’s broken down.
In this post, we’ll go through how to form and use the futuro anteriore in Italian. As you can already see, the futuro anteriore sometimes refers to the future and sometimes to the past, but it has other uses too. Just keep reading to find out!
Appena avremo visto come formare il futuro anteriore, vedremo come usarlo!
Once we've seen how to form the future perfect tense, we will see how to use it!
Table of Contents
How to form the ‘futuro anteriore’ in Italian?
The futuro anteriore is a compound tense. This means that, like all other Italian compound tenses (e.g. passato prossimo, congiuntivo trapassato, and so on), you need two words to form it. For the futuro anteriore, those two words are:
an auxiliary verb, avere(to have) or essere(to be) conjugatedNo definition set for conjugatedLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in the simple future (future semplice).
Subject pronounSimple future of avere(to have) or essere(to be)io
avrò / sarò
tu
avrai / sarai
lui, lei, Lei
avrà / sarà
noi
avremo / saremo
voi
avrete / sarete
loro
avranno / saranno
Tip
the past participleNo definition set for past participleLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of the verb, which can be regular (ending in -ato, -uto, or -ito) or irregularNo definition set for irregularLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
Tip
Want to review your irregular past participles? Check out our list of common irregular past participles in Italian!
Take a look at the full conjugations of some verbs with regular past participles in the table below:
Subject Pronoun | -are | -ere | -ire |
|---|---|---|---|
aspettare(to wait) | vendere(to sell) | partire(to leave) | |
io | avrò aspettato | avrò venduto | sarò partito/a |
tu | avrai aspettato | avrai venduto | sarai partito/a |
lui, lei, Lei | avrà aspettato | avrà venduto | sarà partito/a |
noi | avremo aspettato | avremo venduto | saremo partiti/e |
voi | avrete aspettato | avrete venduto | sarete partiti/e |
loro | avranno aspettato | avranno venduto | saranno partiti/e |
For more examples, have a look at these Italian verbs conjugated in the futuro anteriore!
Tip
Note that, in Italian, the simple future and the present conditional of the first person plural noi(we) are spelled almost in the same way. The only difference is that the simple future is formed with one “m” (e.g., avremo/saremo, “we will have/be”), whereas the first person plural of the present conditional is spelled with double “m” (e.g., avremmo/saremmo, “we would have/be”). So, be careful not to use the present conditional instead of the future simple when it comes to the first person plural!
When to use the ‘futuro anteriore’ in Italian?
As mentioned previously, the future perfect is mainly used to express the past of the future and to make hypotheses about the past. Now, we’ll go over these uses and a couple more!
To express the past of the future
Generally, the futuro anteriore expresses an action that will be finished before or by the time another action occurs in the future. For example:
Avrò finito di lavorare, quando arriverai a casa.
I will be done working, when you get home.
lit. I will have finished to work, when you will arrive home.
Two actions are expected to happen in the future:
Important
As you can see from this example, the clause with the futuro anteriore is the one that expresses the action that will be completed before the other one will occur,which instead is expressed with the futuro semplice(Italian simple future).
The futuro anteriore, as the past of the future, is useful in sentences in which the clause with the simple future expresses the following:
commitment or promise
simple future futuro anterioreTi presterò questo libro, appena lo avrò letto.
I will lend you this book as soon as I have read it.
deal or permission:
simple futurefuturo anterioreVi contatteremo non appena avremo chiuso questo progetto.
We will contact you as soon as we have closed this project.
simple futurefuturo anterioreDopo che avrai finito di studiare, potrai andare al cinema.
After you are done studying, you can go to the movies.
lit. After you will have finished studying, you can go to the movies.
Important
Note that in order to express that one action will happen after the other in the future, we need to introduce futuro anteriore with some time markers, such as dopo che(after that), (non) appena che (as soon as), or the adverb quando(when). Also, note that English does not use the future perfect after these time markers.
To tell when an action will be completed in the future
The futuro anteriore can also express an action in the future that will have been completed by an indefinite or specific time in the future. For example:
Domani a quest’ora sarai appena arrivato a Roma.
Tomorrow at this time you will have just arrived in Rome.
Alle otto stasera, avrà già preparato la cena.
By eight o'clock tonight, s/he'll already have dinner ready.
Important
Note that also in this case, you need some type of time reference to indicate a point in the future. Just to mention a few examples, think about time markers like domani(tomorrow), il prossimo mese(next month), tra due anni (in two years), or even something very specific such as alle 10 del mattino del 30 dicembre(at 10 in the morning on December 30th). 🙃
To make hypotheses about the past
The futuro anteriore is also used to make hypotheses or deductions about something that occurred in the past and had consequences either 1) on the past or 2) on the present.
Example 1:
Ieri gli autobus non circolavano.
Yesterday the buses weren't running.
Ci sarà stato uno sciopero.
There must have been a strike.
Example 2:
Oggi Michele non è al lavoro.
Michele is not at work today.
Avrà preso un giorno di ferie.
He must have taken a day off.
As you noticed from the examples above, in this case, the futuro anterioreis translated with the English “must have.”
Tip
We can also formulate hypotheses about something that happened (in the past) or that is happening (in the present) without using the futuro anteriore, by using words like forse(maybe), magari(maybe), or probabilmente(probably).
For instance, by using forse/magari(maybe) instead of futuro anteriore, the first conversation above becomes…
Ieri gli autobus non circolavano.
Yesterday the buses weren't running.
Forse c’è stato uno sciopero.
Maybe there was a strike.
In the same way, by using probabilmente(probably) instead of futuro anteriore , the second conversation above becomes…
Oggi Michele non è al lavoro.
Michele is not at work today.
Probabilmente ha preso un giorno di ferie.
Probably he took a day off.
Note that when using forse(maybe), magari(maybe), probabilmente(probably), and so on, we use the passato prossimo rather than the futuro anteriore.
To express doubts about the past
The futuro anteriore is also used to form direct questions when wondering whether something happened or not. For example:
Secondo te, Lucia e Matteo avranno comprato il dolce per stasera?
In your opinion, will Lucia and Matteo have bought dessert for tonight?
To sum up
Content paragraph goes here
Forming the futuro anteriore:
The Italian futuro anteriore is a compound tense, that is, it is a combination of two words.
The first word is the simple future of either essere or avere, depending on the verb
The second word is the past participle (regular or irregular) of the verb.
Remember to review the rules of passato prossimo(perfect tense) — they apply to all compound tenses.
Uses of the futuro anteriore:
To talk about an action that will be completed by the time another one begins; in this case, the futuro anteriore is introduced by time markers like dopo che (after that), (non) appena(as soon as), etc.
To talk about when an action is expected to be completed in the future
To make hypotheses about the something in the past; in this case, the futuro anteriore is the equivalent of the English expression “must have”
To express doubts about whether something happened or not in the past
Ready to practice the Italian futuro anteriore? 💪 🧠
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