The French future perfect, or futur antérieur, is a used to describe an action that either:
“will have happened” by some point in the future, or
is interdependent with another, later, future action (something will have happened in the future before another action further in the future).
Quand tu arriveras, on aura déjà mangé.
When you arrive, we’ll have already eaten.
Have you noticed that tu arriveras is in the futur simple in French, but translated using the present tense in English (you arrive)? Wondering why? Read this article and you’ll find your answers! You will learn about what the future perfect expresses, how it is formed, the it is used after, and how it works with , , negation, and questions.
Après la lecture de cet article, vous aurez tout compris !
After reading this article, you will have understood everything!
The French future perfect (futur antérieur) is a compound tense which combines the avoir(to have) or être(to be) and the of a . Does it remind you of another French tense?
Le passé composé! The only difference is that the auxiliary verb in the future perfect is conjugated in the future tense. All other rules, such as the choice of auxiliary, the formation of the past participle, and the word order with negation, pronouns, etc, apply. Let’s have a look at the different steps to form the future perfect:
STEP 1: Choose the right auxiliary verb and conjugate it in the future tense (check our useful technique to know which French auxiliary verb to choose for compound tenses!)
avoir(will have) |
|---|
j'aurai |
tu auras |
il, elle, on aura |
nous aurons |
vous aurez |
ils, elles auront |
être(will be) |
|---|
je serai |
tu seras |
il, elle, on sera |
nous serons |
vous serez |
ils, elles seront |
STEP 2: Add the past participle of a verb. The past participle of a verb using être in gender and number with the subject. For more details, check out our article about agreement with the past participle in French!
Here is a selection of the past participle form of the most used verbs in French. Some of the following past participles are , while others are regular. For more examples, check out our full list of irregular past participles!
être → été to be |
avoir → eu to have |
pouvoir → pu can |
faire → fait to do |
aller → allé* to go |
venir → venu* to come |
prendre → pris to take |
devoir → dû must |
voir → vu to see |
falloir → fallu must |
vouloir → voulu to want |
mettre → mis to put |
dire → dit to say |
savoir → su to know |
partir → parti* to leave |
appeler → appelé to call |
attendre → attendu to wait |
aimer → aimé to like |
croire → cru to believe |
donner → donné to give |
Now we can put it all together! Let’s start with the future perfect of the verb attendre(to wait):
STEP 1: Attendre takes the auxiliary verb avoir.
STEP 2: The past participle of attendre is attendu.
STEP 3: Now we get…
Nous aurons attendu pour rien.
We will have waited for nothing.
Now let’s do the same with arriver(to arrive):
STEP 1: Arriver is a verb that takes auxiliary être. (This means we form agreement with the subject!)
STEP 2: The past participle of arriver is arrivé.
STEP 3: Now we get…
On sera arrivés avant vous.
We’ll have arrived before you do.
To review how to form the future perfect, try our activities on the French future perfect, or read on to learn more!
When the future perfect is used with French negation phrases like ne…pas, the negation will surround the auxiliary verb in most cases.
subject
ne
auxiliary
être or avoir
pas
rien
nulle part
jamais
past participle
On n’aura pas fini d’ici là.
We will not have finished by then.
Ils ne seront jamais allés à Rio.
We will never have been to Rio.
When adding pronouns and adverbs to sentences with the future perfect, pronouns go before the auxiliary verb, while adverbs go between the auxiliary verb and the past participle. Let’s get into it!
In the French future perfect, all pronouns go before the auxiliary verb. This includes, reflexive pronouns, direct object and indirect pronouns, and other pronouns, like y(there) and en(some of).
Est-ce que tu le lui auras dit ?
Will you have told her (it)?
Je m’en serai souvenu d’ici là !
I will have remembered it by then!
Don’t forget to use the correct order for multiple pronouns! For a full review, have a look at our post on ordering object pronouns in French. Here’s a review:
me
te
nous
vous
le
la
les
lui
leur
y
en
Adverbs in French can go before or after the past participle of the future perfect, just like in all compound tenses. Let’s see how they work with the in this tense:
Usually, adverbs of manner (expressing how something happened) that are made of three syllables or more go after the past participle.
Il aura marché très lentement.
Translation
Adverbs expressing intensity, frequency, doubt, and probability go between the auxiliary and the past participle.
On aura certainement dormi pendant plus de dix heures !
We most definitely will have slept more than ten hours!
Use the future perfect in French to talk about actions that…
will be completed or that you think will be completed by a certain time in the future
are interdependent in the future
Use the future perfect to say when an action will have occurred before another future action occurs (the past of the future)
must happen in order for another future action to occur afterward
predict what may have happened in the past
look at a past situation with hindsight
narrate events in the past
Let’s have a look at each of these cases where you’ll use the future perfect.
Use the future perfect when we predict that an action will be completed by a certain time in the future. The future perfect can be used with indications of time like d’ici(by), dans(in) + amount of time, or bientôt(soon).
D’ici la fin du mois, j’aurai économisé assez pour mes vacances.
By the end of the month, I will have saved enough for my holiday.
Il aura bientôt terminé, restez un peu plus longtemps !
By the end of the month, I will have saved enough for my holiday.
The future perfect can also be used when two future actions are interdependent, meaning one future action depends on another future action (in the future perfect) happening first. Usually, interdependent future events are linked with conjunctions.
Here are the conjunctions used to link interdependent future actions:
French | English |
|---|---|
dès que aussitôt que | as soon as |
quand lorsque | when |
une fois que | once |
après que | after |
le jour où | the day |
J’allumerai le four dès qu’ils seront arrivés.
I’ll put the oven on as soon as they have arrived.
These conjunctions can be followed by the simple future or by the future perfect. Sometimes, these conjunctions come before the event that happens first, and sometimes they come before the event that happens second. But regardless of where the conjunction is in the sentence, the future perfect is always used for the event that happens first.
This means that sometimes the future perfect may be in the :
Une fois que Sophie aura terminé, Thomas pourra l’utiliser.
Once Sophie finishes, Thomas will be able to use it.
Or, sometimes, the future perfect appears in the main clause instead:
Quand Thomas arrivera, Sophie sera déjà partie.
When Thomas arrives, Sophie will have already left.
As you can see in the examples above, in English we use the present tense to talk about the future in a subordinate clause. This rule does not exist in French! Remember the sentence from the beginning of the post?
Quand tu arriveras, on aura déjà mangé.
When you arrive, we’ll have already eaten.
Just remember: the future perfect is always needed for the action that comes first.
Note that, unlike après que(after), the conjunction avant que(before) can only be followed by the subjunctive. Avant que, followed by the French present subjunctive, introduces an action that sets a time limit by which an action will be completed in the future.
Les enfants auront tout rangé avant que leurs parents ne reviennent.
The children will have tidied everything before their parents return.
You can also use the future perfect tense in French to predict, assume, or imagine what might have happened in the past.
You have probably already learned to do this by using the passé composé with an adverb expressing certainty or doubt. While this use is acceptable in French, using the future perfect in this context is more idiomatic, so you’ll sound more fluent!
The choice of an adverb of certainty or doubt depends on how confident you are that something happened. Here are some common adverbs you can use:
Rather confident: sûrement / certainement(certainly), sans aucun doute(without a doubt), à coup sûr(for sure), forcément(necessarily)
Rather doubtful: peut-être(maybe), probablement(probably), sans doute(perhaps), éventuellement(perhaps)
Let’s see some examples:
English: “She’s late, she probably forgot her keys”
With future perfect | With passé composé + adverb |
future perfect Elle est en retard, elle aura sans doute oublié ses clés. lit. She’s late, she’ll probably have forgotten her keys. | passé composé Elle est en retard, elle a sans doute oublié ses clés. lit. She’s late, she’s probably forgotten her keys. |
English: “They definitely went to the pizzeria.”
With future perfect | With passé composé + adverb |
future perfect Ils seront (encore) allés à la pizzeria. lit. They’ll have gone to the pizzeria (again). | passé composé Ils sont certainement allés à la pizzeria. lit. They have certainly gone to the pizzeria. |
English: “The children probably had a fight.”
With future perfect | With passé composé + adverb |
future perfect Les enfants se seront probablement disputés. lit. The children will probably have fought. | passé composé Les enfants se sont probablement disputés. lit. The children have probably fought. |
In French, you can use the future perfect tense when you are thinking about or discussing the past, particularly to look at a past situation with hindsight. It’s similar to using the present tense for the passé simple. Let’s start with the former.
Isn’t it fascinating that French uses a future tense to look at a situation with hindsight?! You could, of course, use the passé composé to express the same meaning, but using the future perfect allows you to put an emphasis on what you are talking about and sound like a native!
Il les aura toutes faites !
He’s really made all the possible mistakes!
On aura tout vu !
Now we’ve seen it all!
J’aurai tout entendu !
Now I’ve heard it all!
The sentences above could also be intended literally, to mean
“He will have made all the mistakes!”
“We will have seen everything.”
“I will have heard everything.”
Context and tone will help you determine whether someone intends to talk about the future or reflect on the past!
When you’re using the present tense to narrate past events (as the equivalent of the past historic), the future perfect is used for an action completed before the main event.
Les soldats reçoivent le message vers minuit. À 2h00, ils seront alors partis.
The soldiers received the message. By 2 am, they had already left.
lit. lit. The soldiers receive the message. By 2 am, they will have already left.
This means that, when you’re talking about the past, you can use the future perfect and the present together just like you might use the pluperfect with the past historic!
Les soldats reçurent le message vers minuit. À 2h00, ils étaient déjà partis.
The soldiers received the message. By 2 am, they had already left.
To learn more about narrating past events using the present tense, check out our post on the passé simple.
To learn more about how and when to use the pluperfect, check out our post on the le plus-que-parfait.
Now that you know when to use the future perfect in French, it is time to learn one last point!
There are three ways of asking questions in French and you may have a favorite. If you are interested in learning other ways, check out our post on how to form questions in French! Let’s see how the same question can be asked in three different ways using the future perfect!
Let’s ask, “Will you have already come home?”
Formal question wIth subject-verb inversion:
Serez-vous déjà rentrés ?
Est-ce que question (my favorite as it is convenient in any kind of situation):
Est-ce que vous serez déjà rentrés ?
Informal question with a high pitched tone on the final word:
Vous serez déjà rentrés ?
When forming the future perfect in French, keep the following tips in mind!
The future perfect is a compound tense so if you are familiar with the passé composé, you just need to conjugate the auxiliary in the future tense and apply all the rules linked to le passé composé.
In French, the future perfect can be used to guess what could have happened in the past and also look at a situation with hindsight!
While some conjunctions like dès que(as soon as), quand(when), après que(after) are followed by the present tense in English, they can be followed by a future tense in French.
Why not practice with our French future perfect activities and test your skills?
