The future perfect in French

Read more about how to use The future perfect in French.
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The future perfect

The futur antérieur (the future perfect) is used to express a future action that precedes another future action.

Note: French uses the future perfect after conjunctions like quand and lorsque ('when') where English would use the present or past tenses.

Je vais manger puis je vais appeler Victor. → Quand j’aurai mangé, j’appellerai Victor.  I'm going to eat then I'm going to call Victor. → When I have eaten, I will call Victor.

We also use it to express a future action that will be completed before a set time or period.
Nous serons arrivés à Paris avant 17 heures. We will have arrived before 5pm.
The future perfect is formed using the future tense of the auxiliary avoir or être and the past participle of the main verb.
manger → j’aurai mangé manger, futur antérieur to eat → I will have eaten
aller → nous serons allés aller, futur antérieur to go → we will have gone
pouvoir → tu auras pu pouvoir, futur antérieur to be able to → you will have been able to
se reposer → vous vous serez reposés se reposer, futur antérieur to rest → you will have rested
Note: The future perfect is often used to express probability or supposition in the past.
- Pourquoi Victor n’est pas là ? - Il aura certainement oublié notre rendez-vous. -Why isn't Victor here? -He must have forgotten our meeting.

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