Breakdown of Quand nous aurons fini le recensement, nous comprendrons la démographie.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
avoir
to have
comprendre
to understand
quand
when
finir
to finish
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
le recensement
the census
la démographie
the demography
Questions & Answers about Quand nous aurons fini le recensement, nous comprendrons la démographie.
Why does the French sentence say aurons fini (will have finished) when the English translation just says 'have finished'?
In English, we often use the present or present perfect tense after 'when' to talk about the future. French is more strict about the timeline: since finishing the census will actually happen in the future, a future tense is required. Because this action must be completed before the main action happens, it takes the futur antérieur.
How is the futur antérieur formed in this sentence?
It works a lot like the passé composé, using an auxiliary verb and a past participle. The difference is that the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) is conjugated in the futur simple. Here, we have avoir in the future (nous aurons) followed by the past participle of finir (fini).
Why do we use the futur simple for comprendrons?
In sentences using quand (when) or dès que (as soon as) to describe a sequence of future events, the action that finishes first takes the futur antérieur, and the action that happens second takes the futur simple. Since understanding the demography is the second step, nous comprendrons is in the standard future tense.
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