Assumptions about the past (wird ... haben/sein)

When investigators or rescuers try to piece together what happened in an emergency, they often make logical guesses. To say what "probably happened" or what someone "must have done," German frequently uses the Futur II (Future Perfect).

Although this tense has the word "future" in its name, it is heavily used to express an assumption about a past event.

To form these sentences, use a conjugated form of werden in the second position, and place the Past Participle of the main verb along with the infinitive haben or sein at the very end of the sentence.

Choosing "haben" or "sein"

Just like when forming the standard present perfect tense (Perfekt), you must choose between haben and sein for your final helper verb.

Use sein if the main verb describes motion from one place to another (like slipping) or a change of state (like having an accident).

Most other verbs simply use haben.

Adding probability and negation

You can emphasize that this is a guess by adding adverbs like wahrscheinlich (probably). Words like this, as well as the negation nicht, sit inside the sentence frame, right before the verb block at the end.

Assumptions in subordinate clauses

If you embed your assumption into a subordinate clause (for example, starting with dass), standard word order rules apply. The conjugated verb (wird or werden) is pushed to the very end of the clause. This means it will sit immediately after the Past Participle and haben or sein.