The Future Perfect (Le Futur Antérieur)
The future perfect tense (le futur antérieur) is used to describe an action that will have been completed before a certain time in the future or before another future action. In English, we form this with "will have" plus a past participle (e.g., "we will have extracted").
In French, it is a compound tense just like the past tense (le passé composé). You form it by taking the future tense of the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) and adding the past participle of the main verb.
| Pronoun | Avoir (Future) | Être (Future) |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | aurai | serai |
| tu | auras | seras |
| il / elle | aura | sera |
| nous | aurons | serons |
| vous | aurez | serez |
| ils / elles | auront | seront |
Verbs Using "Avoir"
The vast majority of French verbs use avoir as their auxiliary. To form the future perfect, simply conjugate avoir in the future tense and attach your past participle.
| Next year, they will have extracted all the gold. | L'année prochaine, ils auront extrait tout l'or. |
| We will have sold a thousand tons of iron. | Nous aurons vendu mille tonnes de fer. |
| Tomorrow, we will have extracted the coal from the mine. | Demain, nous aurons extrait le charbon de la mine. |
| I will have dug a very deep hole. | J'aurai creusé un trou très profond. |
Verbs Using "Être"
Certain verbs of motion and change of state (such as partir, to leave) use être instead of avoir as their auxiliary.
Conjugate être in the future tense and add your past participle. Just as with other compound tenses using être, remember that the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number!
| The truck will have left with the coal. | Le camion sera parti avec le charbon. |
