The futuro composto (future perfect) is how Portuguese says that one action will already be completed by some later point in time: "By Friday, I'll have finished the report." It places a finish line in the future and tells you the action will be done before that line. As with the simple future, Brazilian Portuguese has both a colloquial form and a formal one — and, as you'll see, a strong tendency to avoid the tense altogether by rephrasing.
The two forms
Colloquial (spoken default): present of ir + ter + past participle.
vou + ter + terminado = vou ter terminado
Formal (written): future of ter + past participle.
terei + terminado = terei terminado
| Subject | Colloquial: ir + ter + participle | Formal: future of ter + participle |
|---|---|---|
| eu | vou ter terminado | terei terminado |
| você / ele / ela | vai ter terminado | terá terminado |
| a gente | vai ter terminado | — |
| nós | vamos ter terminado | teremos terminado |
| vocês / eles / elas | vão ter terminado | terão terminado |
The participle (terminado, feito, chegado) never changes form here — it stays masculine singular regardless of the subject, because ter is the auxiliary. (Agreement of the participle only happens with ser/estar in the passive; see past participle overview.)
Examples in context
Até sexta, eu vou ter terminado o trabalho.
By Friday, I'll have finished the work.
Quando você chegar, a gente já vai ter jantado.
By the time you arrive, we'll already have had dinner.
Daqui a um ano, eles vão ter pagado todo o financiamento.
A year from now, they'll have paid off the whole loan.
No fim do mês, eu vou ter economizado o suficiente pra viagem.
By the end of the month, I'll have saved up enough for the trip.
Quando o filme acabar, ela já vai ter dormido.
By the time the movie ends, she'll already have fallen asleep.
The colloquial vou ter + participle is overwhelmingly more common in spoken Brazilian than the formal terei + participle. You'll meet terei terminado, terão chegado, and the like mainly in formal writing, contracts, and the occasional careful speech:
O comitê terá concluído a análise antes da próxima reunião.
The committee will have completed the analysis before the next meeting. (formal)
Quando esta carta chegar às suas mãos, eu já terei partido.
By the time this letter reaches you, I will already have left. (literary/formal)
The insight: Brazilians usually dodge this tense entirely
Here's the practical reality. Even the colloquial vou ter terminado feels somewhat heavy in casual speech, so Brazilians frequently sidestep the future perfect by rephrasing — most often using the present indicative with a future meaning plus a time expression. Instead of marking the completion explicitly, the speaker lets the deadline phrase (até sexta, antes de) and context do the work.
Eu termino o trabalho até sexta.
I'll have the work done by Friday. (literally: I finish the work by Friday)
Compare the three ways to say the same thing, from most formal to most colloquial:
| Register | Sentence |
|---|---|
| Formal written | Até sexta, terei terminado o trabalho. |
| Colloquial future perfect | Até sexta, vou ter terminado o trabalho. |
| Everyday rephrase (most common) | Até sexta, eu termino o trabalho. |
This rephrasing instinct is strong. A Brazilian planning their week is far likelier to say Sexta eu já entrego tudo ("Friday I'll already hand everything in") than to construct a full future perfect. The use of the present for the future is a major feature of the language in its own right — see present for future.
Quando você chegar, a gente já jantou.
By the time you get here, we'll have already eaten. (colloquial, using past for 'already done')
Notice that last option uses já jantou (already ate) — the present-relevant past — because the focus is on the result being complete from the listener's future vantage point. Brazilians shuffle freely between these strategies; the explicit future perfect is the least favored of them in conversation.
How English compares
English builds the future perfect the same way conceptually: "will have" + past participle ("will have finished"). The structural parallel makes terei terminado transparent to an English speaker. But two differences matter:
- English doesn't have the vou ter terminado layering with a motion verb; English just uses "will." So you have to consciously insert ter as the inner auxiliary — vou ter feito, not vou feito.
- English uses the future perfect more readily in speech ("I'll have left by then"), whereas Brazilian speakers lean on rephrasing. So a sentence that's natural in English may sound over-engineered if you translate it literally into Brazilian conversation.
Common Mistakes
❌ Até sexta, eu vou terminado o trabalho.
Incorrect — the inner auxiliary 'ter' is missing; you need 'vou ter terminado'.
✅ Até sexta, eu vou ter terminado o trabalho.
By Friday, I'll have finished the work.
❌ A gente vão ter jantado.
Incorrect — 'a gente' is singular and takes 'vai', not 'vão'.
✅ A gente vai ter jantado.
We'll have had dinner.
❌ Eles vão ter pagados o financiamento.
Incorrect — the participle after 'ter' does not agree; it stays 'pagado/pago' (masc. sing.).
✅ Eles vão ter pago o financiamento.
They'll have paid off the loan. (BR speech often uses the short participle 'pago' here)
❌ Eu terei terminado isso até sexta. (texting a friend casually)
Not wrong, but too formal for a chat; it sounds like a written report.
✅ Sexta eu já termino isso.
I'll have it done by Friday. (natural colloquial rephrase)
❌ Quando você chegar, a gente vai ter jantar.
Incorrect — the second verb after 'ter' must be a past participle (jantado), not an infinitive.
✅ Quando você chegar, a gente já vai ter jantado.
By the time you arrive, we'll already have had dinner.
Key Takeaways
- Future perfect = vou ter + participle (spoken) or terei + participle (formal).
- The participle is fixed (masculine singular) because ter is the auxiliary.
- The colloquial form beats the formal one in speech by a wide margin.
- Most often, Brazilians avoid the tense altogether and use the present for the future plus a deadline: Sexta eu termino tudo.
- The English "will have done" maps onto it structurally, but English uses it far more freely than Brazilian conversation does.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Compound Tenses OverviewB1 — A map of the Brazilian Portuguese compound tenses, all built with ter + past participle, and why haver as an auxiliary is essentially literary.
- The Periphrastic Future (vou + infinitive)A1 — How Brazilians actually talk about the future: ir in the present plus an infinitive.
- Futuro do Presente Simples: FormationA2 — How to build the simple future in Brazilian Portuguese — endings added to the whole infinitive, the only three irregular stems, and why you mostly see it in writing.
- Present Indicative for Future EventsA2 — How Brazilian Portuguese uses the simple present for scheduled and near-future events — like English 'the train leaves at five' — and how this choice differs from vou + infinitivo and the simple future.
- The Past Participle in BR PortugueseA2 — What the past participle (particípio passado) is, how it's formed, and its three jobs — compound tenses, passive voice, and adjective — including the crucial rule that it agrees in passive and adjectival use but not after ter.