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Presente come futuro prossimo
Italian has no grammatical equivalent to the construction "to be going to do something" – there is no andare fare qualcosa. Instead, you have three options:
- Very near future (stare per fare)
- Future tense
- Present tense, especially when the time or date is stated
Per esempio…
| Sono a casa fra poco. | I’ll be home soon. | |
| Ballo domani. | I’m dancing (I’m going to dance) tomorrow. | |
| Lunedì compriamo una macchina. | On Monday we’re buying (going to buy) a car. |
Note that you can use andare in the present tense followed by a + infinitive, but despite appearances, this is not a near future construction. It’s just andare in the present tense and with its normal meaning of "go."
| Vado a ballare. | I’m going dancing. I’m going to a club to dance. |
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| Andiamo a comprare una macchina. | We’re going to buy a car. We’re on our way to the used car lot. |
If this action does not involve physically moving to another place (e.g., you’re already there and just explaining your plan), you can’t use andare – you need the present or future.
When talking about an imminent action with no specific time/date stated, you can use stare per + infinitive.
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Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site. Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.
