Future Passive Indicative

The future passive indicative says that a subject will undergo an action: epistula mittētur “the letter will be sent.” Like the present and imperfect passives, it is a synthetic present-system form: Latin normally uses one word, not a form of sum plus a participle.

There are two future formations. First- and second-conjugation verbs use the familiar -b- future described from the active side in Future Indicative of First and Second Conjugations; third-conjugation, third-iō, and fourth-conjugation verbs use an -a-/-ē- future. The passive endings are recognizable in both, but the stem pattern must come from the verb’s present-system principal parts, not from its English meaning.

First and second conjugations: the b-future

For laudō, laudāre and moneō, monēre, add the future sequence -bor, -beris/-bere, -bitur, -bimur, -biminī, -buntur.

The second-person singular -bere alternative is (neutral Classical) alongside -beris. Be careful with the vowels: third-person plural has -buntur, while first-person plural has -bimur.

Mittentur in the first example is actually the third-conjugation future discussed below; laudāberis shows the first-conjugation b-future. Both end in a passive personal ending and make the receiver nominative.

Third, third-iō, and fourth conjugations: a/ē

These conjugations do not use -b-. The first-person singular uses -ar. The second person singular through the second person plural use long ē before the passive ending; the third person plural instead has short e. Third-iō and fourth-conjugation forms retain their expected i.

Tense, voice, and mood

The future places the event after the speaker’s reference point. The passive presents the receiver as subject. The indicative frames the statement as a prediction, assurance, plan, or expected fact rather than as a possibility marked by the subjunctive.

Latin future indicatives can also function pragmatically like firm instructions, especially in (formal) rules, legal language, recipes, and administrative prose:

The morphology is still future indicative. English “shall” reflects the directive force of the context; it does not turn solvētur into an imperative.

Do not confuse a simple future with a completed future

The future passive views an event as future without asserting that it will already be complete before another future event. The future perfect passive uses a perfect passive participle plus future sum.

The first clause predicts the closing; the second places a completed closing before the relevant future point. English sometimes uses a simple present inside a future time clause (“when the guard arrives”), but Latin commonly uses a future perfect such as vēnerit for the earlier future action. Do not force English tense naming directly onto the Latin forms.

Forms that overlap with the present subjunctive

First-person singular futures of third, third-iō, and fourth conjugations—regar, capiar, audiar—have the same written form as their present passive subjunctives. Macrons do not resolve this overlap. Clause syntax and discourse do.

The explicit future adverb crās favors future indicative. In timeō nē audiar “I fear that I may be heard,” nē after a verb of fearing requires the subjunctive. A parser should record the morphological ambiguity first, then use syntax rather than pretending the form alone settles the mood.

Other persons often show a visible quantity contrast in pedagogical spelling: future regēris, regētur versus present subjunctive regāris, regātur. Unmacronized editions remove that cue, so the syntactic habit remains essential.

From visible form to function

For captīvī ad urbem dūcentur, use a Latin-first sequence:

1. -ntur marks third-person plural passive.
2. dūc- identifies dūcō, dūcere, a third-conjugation verb.
3. -e- before -ntur matches the third-conjugation future.
4. Nominative plural captīvī is the receiver and controls plural agreement.
5. Translate naturally: “the captives will be led to the city.”

This example also contrasts third-conjugation dūcentur with first-conjugation tractābuntur. The same English auxiliary “will be” hides two different Latin future patterns.

Lexical limits and register

The regular forms are (neutral Classical). Deponent verbs use passive morphology with active meaning: future sequar means “I will follow,” not “I will be followed.” Their dictionary principal parts must be learned as a lexical class. The present-system passive of faciō is fīō; its future is fīam, fīēs, fīet, fīēmus, fīētis, fīent. An intransitive verb can form a third-person singular impersonal passive, such as pugnābitur “there will be fighting,” but not an ordinary personal passive.

Poetry may use the second-person -re variant and may place the passive subject far from the verb. (Archaic) and poetic forms elsewhere in the verbal system should not be used to invent new future endings. The two productive Classical patterns above are the reliable basis for composition.

Common Mistakes

1. Giving every conjugation a b-future

2. Building a simple future with a participle and sum

3. Keeping the active object accusative

4. Assuming an ambiguous -ar form must be subjunctive

5. Translating a deponent future passively

Key Takeaways

Use -b- futures for first and second conjugations, but -a-/-ē- futures for third, third-iō, and fourth conjugations. Passive endings identify the subject as receiver; case and agreement identify its role. Distinguish the simple future from participle-based future perfect forms, and let syntax resolve forms such as regar, capiar, and audiar that also belong to the present subjunctive.