Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Portuguese (Portugal)

### The future perfect for past probability

In a previous lesson, you learned how to use the future perfect (*Futuro Composto do Indicativo*) to describe actions completed by a future deadline. However, this tense has another very common—and very useful—function in Portuguese: expressing a guess, probability, or supposition about something that **already happened**.

When piecing together a mystery, investigating a crime, or simply gossiping, you will frequently use this tense to describe what **must have** happened or what **probably** occurred.

The structure is exactly the same as before: the future tense of the auxiliary verb **ter** + the **past participle** of your main verb.

{{item:1031336}}

{{item:1031347}}

{{item:1031353}}

### Asking questions and expressing doubt

When you ask a question using this tense, it expresses doubt, wonder, or speculation. In English, this translates roughly to "Could [someone] have [done]...?" or "I wonder if...".

{{item:1031335}}

{{item:1031341}}

{{item:1031359}}

### Negative suppositions

When you use this tense in a negative sentence, you are guessing that an event most likely did not occur. This translates to "probably didn't" or "must not have".

{{item:1031340}}

{{item:1031342}}

{{item:1031350}}

Probability in the past (terá sido)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the inspector	o inspetor
Could the inspector have discovered the truth?	O inspetor terá descoberto a verdade?
They say that the inspector must have arrived late to the scene.	Dizem que o inspetor terá chegado atrasado à cena.
the suspect	o suspeito
It is the suspect who must have hidden the money.	O suspeito é que terá escondido o dinheiro.
The detective had to confess that the suspect must have fled.	O detetive teve de confessar que o suspeito terá fugido.
the alibi	o álibi
Could the witness have invented the false alibi?	A testemunha terá inventado o álibi falso?
The suspect probably did not have a good alibi.	O suspeito não terá tido um bom álibi.
to interrogate	interrogar
They must have interrogated the man during the night.	Eles terão interrogado o homem durante a noite.
Could they have interrogated the woman at the police station?	Terão interrogado a mulher na esquadra?
the footprint	a pegada
Someone must have left the footprint in the mud.	Alguém terá deixado a pegada na lama.
The thief must have erased the footprint from the floor.	O ladrão terá apagado a pegada do chão.
the trace (vestige, remnant)	o vestígio
They probably did not find any trace of blood on the rug.	Não terão encontrado nenhum vestígio de sangue no tapete.
It is said that the rain must have destroyed the trace.	Diz-se que a chuva terá destruído o vestígio.
the accomplice	o cúmplice
The thief must have had an accomplice in the bank.	O ladrão terá tido um cúmplice no banco.
The inspector suspects that the accomplice must have fled yesterday.	O inspetor suspeita que o cúmplice terá fugido ontem.
the blackmail	a chantagem
The crime must have been because of the blackmail.	O crime terá sido por causa da chantagem.
The actress must have used the blackmail against the director.	A atriz terá usado a chantagem contra o diretor.
to kidnap	raptar
Who could have tried to kidnap the girl?	Quem terá tentado raptar a menina?
The enemy must have kidnapped the president during the trip.	O inimigo terá raptado o presidente durante a viagem.
the kidnapping	o rapto
Could they have prepared the kidnapping last month?	Terão preparado o rapto no mês passado?
The kidnapping must have happened after midnight.	O rapto terá acontecido depois da meia-noite.