GCSE Italian: Work and Future Plans Revision Guide

Key vocabulary

• il lavoro — job/work
• il medico — doctor
• l'insegnante — teacher
• l'avvocato — lawyer
• il meccanico — mechanic
• il cameriere / la cameriera — waiter/waitress
• lo stage — work experience
• l'ufficio — office
• l'azienda — company
• guadagnare — to earn
• diventare — to become
• il/la disoccupato/a — unemployed person

Talking about wishes and hopes

Useful phrases for career aspirations: Voglio... (I want to...), Vorrei... (I would like to...), Spero di... (I hope to...). These are all followed by a verb in the infinitive, e.g. Vorrei diventare medico — "I would like to become a doctor".

Grammar point: the future tense

The future tense (futuro semplice) is used to talk about what will happen. For regular -are and -ere verbs, remove the final -e from the infinitive and add the future endings: -erò, -erai, -erà, -eremo, -erete, -eranno (note that -are verbs also change their "a" to "e"). Example: lavorare → lavorerò (I will work). Essere is irregular: sarò, sarai, sarà, saremo, sarete, saranno. Example: Sarò felice — "I will be happy". Diventare follows the regular pattern: Diventerò avvocato — "I will become a lawyer".

Grammar point: andare + infinitive

To talk about the near future (what you are going to do), use the present tense of andare (to go) plus a plus an infinitive: Vado a fare uno stage in un ufficio — "I am going to do work experience in an office". This is similar to the English "going to" future and is often easier to use accurately than the full future tense.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the "a" in "andare + a + infinitive", e.g. writing "vado fare" instead of "vado a fare".
• Using the present tense instead of the future tense when talking about long-term plans after school.
• Mixing up "voglio" (I want, no accent needed) with "vorrei" (I would like) — "vorrei" is more polite and is often expected in higher-level answers.