The future perfect passive indicative describes an action that will already have been completed upon its subject by some future point. Pōns refectus erit means “the bridge will have been repaired”: the bridge receives the repairing, and the completion is viewed from a later future moment.
Latin forms this tense with an agreeing perfect passive participle plus the future indicative of sum. The result resembles the perfect passive and Pluperfect Passive Indicative, but the form of sum changes the time relation: refectus est “was/has been repaired,” refectus erat “had been repaired,” and refectus erit “will have been repaired.”
Formation from the fourth principal part
Use the fourth principal part, not the perfect active stem. From reficiō, reficere, refēcī, refectum “repair,” the supine stem refect- supplies the perfect passive participle refectus, refecta, refectum. Add the future indicative of sum: erō, eris, erit, erimus, eritis, erunt.
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | laudātus erō | laudāta erō | — |
| 2nd singular | laudātus eris | laudāta eris | — |
| 3rd singular | laudātus erit | laudāta erit | laudātum erit |
| 1st plural | laudātī erimus | laudātae erimus | — |
| 2nd plural | laudātī eritis | laudātae eritis | — |
| 3rd plural | laudātī erunt | laudātae erunt | laudāta erunt |
Pōns ante hiemem refectus erit.
The bridge will have been repaired before winter.
Litterae crās ad omnēs missae erunt.
The letters will have been sent to everyone by tomorrow.
Hoc opus intra trēs diēs perfectum erit.
This work will have been completed within three days.
The time phrases—ante hiemem, crās, intra trēs diēs—supply a future boundary. At that boundary, the passive event is expected to be complete.
Why it is future, perfect, passive, and indicative
The future comes from erō, eris, erit, and the rest. The perfect viewpoint presents the action as complete relative to that future point. The passive makes the affected participant the subject. The indicative treats the forecast or assumption as part of an asserted scenario.
Compare active and passive versions of the same event:
Fabrī pontem ante hiemem refēcerint.
The builders will have repaired the bridge before winter.
Pōns ā fabrīs ante hiemem refectus erit.
The bridge will have been repaired by the builders before winter.
Future perfect active refēcerint uses the perfect stem from third principal part refēcī. Future perfect passive refectus erit uses the participle from fourth principal part refectum. The English vocabulary is almost identical, but the Latin stem choice and clause organization differ.
Completion before another future event
The tense is especially useful when one future event must be complete before another can occur. Latin often marks the prior future action more explicitly than idiomatic English does.
Cum omnia parāta erunt, iter incipiēmus.
When everything has been prepared, we will begin the journey.
Ubi porta aperta erit, hospitēs intrābunt.
When the gate has been opened, the guests will enter.
Nisi pecūnia solūta erit, mercātor rem nōn trādet.
Unless the money has been paid, the merchant will not hand over the item.
English normally prefers present perfect “has been prepared/opened/paid” in these future time and condition clauses, because standard English avoids will after “when” and “unless.” Latin morphology remains future perfect. This is a prime example of why tense labels are not word-for-word translation instructions.
The clause introduced by cum or ubi sets completion as the threshold for the later future. The nisi clause makes prior payment the condition for the future transfer. In all three, the passive subject is the affected thing, not an unexpressed actor.
Future result versus future event
Because the perfect passive participle can behave adjectivally, a form such as porta clausa erit can be understood as “the gate will have been closed” or “the gate will be closed.” The first wording foregrounds the prior act; the second foregrounds the state expected to hold. Latin often leaves that distinction to context.
Ad noctem portae clausae erunt.
By nightfall the gates will have been closed; by nightfall the gates will be shut.
The deadline ad noctem favors a completed-action reading, but the continuing state is inseparable from the result. There is no honest mechanical test that resolves every instance. Look for an agent, an event sequence, a deadline, and the lexical meaning of the participle.
By contrast, a clearly adjectival predicate may describe a quality rather than a verbal event: via longa erit “the road will be long.” A perfect passive participle normally retains a recoverable verb and patient relation, though frequent participles can become ordinary adjectives.
Parsing from the visible Latin
Use this order:
- Find the finite future form of sum.
- Identify a nominative participle agreeing with the subject.
- Restore its fourth principal part and dictionary verb.
- Decide who receives the action and whether a personal agent is expressed with ā/ab plus ablative.
- Find the future point by which the action is complete.
- Choose idiomatic English only then.
Sententia ā iūdicibus prōnūntiāta erit ante merīdiem.
The judgment will have been pronounced by the judges before noon.
Prōnūntiāta is feminine nominative singular, agreeing with sententia. Erit is third-person singular future indicative. Ā iūdicibus names personal agents; ante merīdiem provides the completion boundary.
Mīlitēs tum dēmum mittentur, cum omnia explōrāta erunt.
The soldiers will be sent only when everything has been investigated.
This more compressed (formal) sentence contrasts future passive mittentur with future perfect passive explōrāta erunt. The sending lies ahead, while the investigation must already be complete before it can happen; neuter plural explōrāta agrees with omnia.
Productive forms and special cases
Regular formation is predictable once the fourth principal part is known, but that principal part is lexical: scrīptum from scrībō, positum from pōnō, lātum from ferō. Memorize it with the verb. A verb that lacks a usable perfect passive participle cannot simply be forced into this personal paradigm.
Intransitives may appear in an impersonal neuter singular future perfect passive: pugnātum erit “there will have been fighting.” A deponent perfect such as profectus erit normally means “he will have set out,” active in sense despite passive-looking morphology; deponent status is a lexical fact.
Classical authors sometimes use future perfect fuerō in place of future erō: laudātus fuerō can stand beside regular laudātus erō. The fuerō series may sharpen the completion of the resulting condition, but context must establish any contrast. Poetry (literary) may also separate participle and auxiliary or arrange them unusually. In either series, agreement plus a future form of sum exposes the construction.
Common Mistakes
1. Using the perfect active stem to invent a participle
❌ Epistula scrīpsa erit.
Incorrect — scrīpsa is not the participle of scrībō.
✅ Epistula scrīpta erit.
The letter will have been written.
The correct fourth principal part is scrīptum.
2. Forgetting plural agreement
❌ Mandāta scrīptum erunt.
Incorrect — neuter plural mandāta requires neuter plural scrīpta.
✅ Mandāta scrīpta erunt.
The instructions will have been written.
3. Choosing present sum because English uses a present perfect
❌ Cum opus perfectum est, discedēmus.
Wrong for the intended prior future: perfectum est is perfect passive, not future perfect passive.
✅ Cum opus perfectum erit, discedēmus.
When the work has been completed, we will leave.
4. Leaving the passive subject in the accusative
❌ Portam ante noctem clausam erit.
Incorrect — a personal passive needs a nominative subject, not accusative portam.
✅ Ad noctem porta clausa erit.
By nightfall the gate will have been closed.
Key Takeaways
The future perfect passive indicative is an agreeing perfect passive participle from the fourth principal part plus erō, eris, erit, erimus, eritis, or erunt. It presents a passive event as complete by a future reference point. English may translate it with “will have been,” “has been” in a future clause, or a future state; Latin form and discourse context—not an English auxiliary sequence—determine the analysis.
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- Present, Perfect, and Supine StemsA1 — Map Latin’s three principal stem families to the tense, voice, and non-finite forms each family builds.