Education Post-16

Two futures, one you must write

This topic is about what you do after sixteen, so almost every sentence you will produce is about something that has not happened yet. Italian gives you two ways of doing that, and here is the thing worth knowing before you spend a single evening revising. One of them you have to be able to write. The other you only have to be able to recognise. The one you must write is built from the verb andare plus an infinitive, exactly the way English says going to: vado a studiare means I am going to study. The one you only have to recognise is the future tense proper, with its own set of endings, and at Foundation your specification asks you to understand it when you meet it rather than to produce it. So if you are choosing what to drill, drill vado a and read the future tense often enough to know it when you see it. Something like non vado a studiare matematica should feel completely ordinary by the end of this module.

Words for after school

Five words for what comes next. None of these belongs to the subjects list or the school-buildings list you have already met.

Match the post-16 word

Write one, recognise the other

Both of these say something about the future. Your specification treats them completely differently at Foundation, and knowing which is which changes what you revise.

Which form do you need

You are writing a paragraph about what you plan to do after your exams. Which form should you use?

• The immediate future, andare plus an infinitive, because that is the form you are required to produce
• The future tense, because it is the proper way to talk about the future
• The perfect tense, because a plan is something you have already decided
• Either, since both are on the specification

Build the plan

To say I am going to study, write _____ a studiare. To make it negative, the word _____ goes in front of the verb, giving non vado a studiare matematica. To say where you already are rather than where you are going, you need a different verb: _____ al liceo means I am at the sixth form. And to say you are going to carry on with something, reach for _____. The part of the immediate future that changes is only _____; the second verb stays as an infinitive.

Which two are well formed

Select the TWO Italian expressions that are correctly built.

• vado a studiare
• non vado a continuare
• vado a studio
• sono a studiare

You are not asked to write it

This is worth knowing before you plan your revision, because it saves real time. Your specification marks some grammar as productive and some as receptive, and it genuinely means it. Productive means you may be asked to produce it, so you have to be able to write it correctly under pressure. Receptive means you may be asked to understand it, so you have to know what it means when you read or hear it, and nothing more. At Foundation the immediate future is productive and the future tense is receptive. That does not mean the future tense is unimportant, because it will turn up in reading and listening material and you will lose marks if you do not recognise it. It means the two need completely different kinds of revision. Learn to write vado a plus an infinitive until you no longer think about it, and learn to read the future tense until it no longer surprises you. Do not spend evenings drilling endings you will never be asked to produce.

The form you only have to recognise

Four short Italian sentences about the future. Select the ONE using the future tense, which at Foundation you need to recognise rather than to write.

• Vado a studiare al liceo.
• Non vado a continuare con le scienze.
• Studiero le lingue straniere.
• Vado a scegliere un corso nuovo.

Say what you are going to do

Assemble a sentence saying that you are going to continue at the sixth form.

A plan, in Italian

A speaking or writing task asks what you are going to do after your exams. Here is an answer built entirely from what this module has covered, with the reasoning shown. Sono al liceo. That says where you are now, using sono because it is about being somewhere rather than going somewhere. Vado a continuare con le lingue straniere. That is the immediate future, the form you are required to produce, and it says what you are going to keep doing. Non vado a lasciare la scuola. The negative needs nothing more than non in front of the verb. E poi vado a studiare all universita. There is the longer-term plan, still in the same pattern. Notice three things about it. Every future statement uses vado a plus an infinitive, so nothing risks a form you are not asked to produce. The only verb that changes is andare, which means there is one pattern to remember rather than a set of endings. And the whole answer is built from about six words plus the subjects you already knew, which is what makes it repeatable under pressure.

Assemble the whole plan

Put these Italian sentences into an order that answers the question what are you going to do after your exams.

• Sono al liceo.
• Non vado a lasciare la scuola.
• Vado a continuare con le lingue straniere.
• Vado a scegliere un corso nuovo.
• E poi vado a studiare all universita.

Choosing what comes next

You are preparing an answer about your plans after sixteen. Take the decisions in order.

• You want to say you are going to study languages. Which pattern do you reach for?
• You want to make it negative. What changes?
• In a reading passage you meet a verb ending you do not recognise, and the sentence is clearly about next year. What is it likely to be?
• You have one evening to revise this topic. What do you spend it on?

Write about your plans

Write in ITALIAN about what you are going to do after your exams. English bullets, Italian answer. Use vado a plus an infinitive for every plan, and only words you can spell with confidence.

• Say where you are studying now, using sono
• Say one thing you are going to continue with
• Say one thing you are not going to do, using non
• Say one new thing you are going to choose or start
• Say something about the longer term, still using vado a