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Can the verb "andare" conjugated in the present tense be used to refer to the future?

Example: Vado a prendere la macchina. (= I go get the car / I'm going to get the car) (present action). Could it also refer to plan of getting the car in the future, i.e. the speaker is not doing the action right now ?

Alan Evangelista
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  • No, “Vado a prendere la macchina” implies you are going to get the car now. For a future action you are likely to say “andrò a prendere la macchina domani”. Colloquially we sometime use the present tense “Vado” to indicate a future action. Say: “quando vai a prendere la macchina? Vado domani”. But it is an informal colloquial usage. – Hachi Nov 10 '20 at 17:06
  • @Hachi So, in short, "andare" can be used informally in the present to refer to the future. – Alan Evangelista Nov 10 '20 at 17:08
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    Related question: https://italian.stackexchange.com/q/11563/. The expressions discussed in this question and their answers refer to the imminent future. – Charo Nov 10 '20 at 17:28
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    This is not a peculiarity of the verb andare. It is quite frequent, in an informal register, to use the present tense to refer to future actions. For instance, “Fa' [una certa cosa]” “Non mi va, lo faccio domani” and so on, for almost any verb (“lo cerco/lavo/chiamo... domani”). – DaG Nov 10 '20 at 17:39
  • I agree with @DaG: you can also say "Ci vado domani" to convey the meaning "I'll go there tomorrow", which is something not specific of the verb "andare". For instance, "ci penso domani" means "I will think about this tomorrow". But "vado a prendere la macchina" (if used not to refer to a present action) seems to me to convey an imminent future, in the same way as "vado a impiattare". – Charo Nov 10 '20 at 18:04
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    Dal libro Grammatica e pratica della lingua italiana per studenti stranieri di Federica Colombo: "È possibile usare il presente anche per parlare di azioni che si svolgono nel futuro. Domani iniziano* i corsi di danza. La prossima settimana telefono a Carlo. Luigi parte domani mattina*". – Charo Nov 10 '20 at 19:15
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    When speaking of a planned action, the present tense can be used in phrases like lunedì parto per le vacanze, or domani vado da mio cugino. – apaderno Nov 10 '20 at 22:51
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    @Charo Don't be fooled by the wannabe chef jargon. There is a big difference: “vado a prendere la macchina” implies a real movement to where the car is; the action will take place immediately or in a very short time; “vado a impiattare” has no real motion implied: the wannabe chef remains in exactly the same place. – egreg Nov 11 '20 at 22:48
  • Hai ragione, @egreg: si tratta di qualcosa di diverso. – Charo Nov 12 '20 at 08:07

1 Answers1

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Yes, the present can be used instead of the future, but a time specification must be present:

Vado a prendere la macchina nuova
Domani vado a prendere la macchina nuova

In the first case, without time specifications, the speaker is going to get the new car now. It can also be

Sto per andare a prendere la macchina nuova

if the action will take place in a short time. All action verbs can be used in the same way:

Telefono a Maria (now)
Domani telefono a Maria (tomorrow)
Il mese prossimo telefono a Maria (next month)

The future need not be immediate, as the last example shows; even

L'anno prossimo vado in vacanza a Forlimpopoli

would be good. Similarly,

Corro a prenderlo (now)
Fra un anno corro a prenderlo (irony implied)

The verb “andare”, though, has come under the sad fate of being used for “immediate action”, particularly in the fashionable jargon of TV programs on cooking:

vado a infornare, vado a impiattare, vado a versare

where the speaker moves not farther than a few centimeters. Avoid it, if you're not a wannabe chef.

egreg
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