Kilo Lingo
French grammar Part of Chapter 30

CEFR B2

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Test yourself (21 questions)

Futur Antérieur in French: The Future Perfect Tense

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 12 October 2026

The antérieur (future perfect) says what will already be over by a point in the future: . - I will have finished before noon. It is the futur simple of or plus a past participle, and it has three jobs.

the auxiliary, in the futurefeminine agreementplural agreementWhat do the colours mean?
JobExampleEnglish
1. Done by then .I will have finished before noon.
2. First, then , .When you have finished, we will leave.
3. A guess .He must have forgotten.

Quick check

Now use it: three quick questions on the chart above. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Tap the mistake.

If you can build the and the passé composé, you can build this tense today. Job 1 is the future perfect English also has; for job 2 English uses a present perfect (when you have finished); job 3 has no English tense at all.

How to form it

the auxiliary, in the futurefeminine agreementplural agreementWhat do the colours mean?

Take the and put its auxiliary into the future.

I finished becomes I will have finished: only the auxiliary moves
Subjectavoir verbêtre verb
/
/

The glosses: I will have finished, I will have left, and so on down. The auxiliary takes the future endings you already know: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.

The auxiliary choice and the agreement rules are the 's, unchanged:

RuleExampleEnglish
movement: .They will have arrived.
reflexive: .She will have got up before six.
: object before the letters I will have written
negation .I will not have finished by tonight.

Negation wraps the auxiliary, as in every compound tense, and an object pronoun sits in front of it: . - He will not have seen it.

Done by then

futur simple: at that pointfutur antérieur: over before itfeminine agreementplural agreementWhat do the colours mean?

The first job is the one English shares: an action that will be complete before a point still in the future. A time phrase usually names the point: , , , .

  • j’aurai fini (over before the deadline)

  • midi (the deadline)

Timeline from past to future, with now marked.

  • , . - By tomorrow I will have finished the file.
  • , . - In two hours they will have arrived.
  • , . - By the end of the month we will have moved.
  • , . - By noon she will have left.

Set it beside the and the difference is when the action happens:

TenseFrenchEnglish
simple .They will arrive in two hours.
antérieur , .In two hours they will have arrived.

The first puts the arrival at the two-hour mark; the second puts it before the mark and looks back at it.

After quand and dès que

the auxiliary in the futureWhat do the colours mean?

The tense is most at home after a time conjunction, where one future action must be over before the next can start.

  • , . - When you have finished, we will leave.
  • , . - As soon as he has arrived, I will call you.
  • vendu , . - Once we have sold the house, we will look for a flat.

English puts a present perfect there (when you have finished). French will not: the finishing is in the future, so its verb is too. The whole rule, and when the plain is enough, is on quand plus the future.

The guess about the past

futur antérieur: a guess about the pastthe auxiliary, in the futureWhat do the colours mean?

Now the job English has no tense for. Put a antérieur in a sentence with no future in it, and it stops predicting: it guesses what has already happened.

  • : . - She is not here: she must have missed her train.
  • : . - He is not answering: he must have gone to bed early.
  • : . - The door is open: somebody must have come in.
  • . - You must have misunderstood.

The logic: a future is a statement you cannot check yet. Pointed at the past, it is a statement you have not checked, which is a guess. On a scale of certainty it sits between perhaps and the plain fact:

Not sureCertain
  1. Il a peut-être oublié.perhaps he forgot
  2. Il aura oublié.he must have forgotten
  3. Il a oublié.he forgot: a fact

French often props the guess up with or : . - He must have forgotten, no doubt. The everyday alternative is in the , which says much the same thing: . - He must have forgotten.

Which reading is it?

done by a future pointa guess about the pastWhat do the colours mean?

The forms are identical, so the rest of the sentence decides.

ClueExampleReading
a future time , .by then
, , -.by then
a present situation : .a guess

The glosses: By tomorrow he will have forgotten. When you have finished, call me. He is not answering: he must have forgotten.

If there is a future point in the sentence, it is the future perfect. If everything around it is in the present or the past, it is a guess, and reading it as a prediction loses you the sentence.

J'aurai or j'aurais: one letter

futur antérieur: will haveconditionnel passé: would haveWhat do the colours mean?

The conditionnel passé is one letter away, and many speakers pronounce the two alike. The spelling carries the meaning.

TenseFrenchEnglish
antérieur .I will have finished before noon.
cond. , .If I had started earlier, I would have finished.

The two meet in reported speech: under a past reporting verb, a antérieur becomes a . . - He said he would have finished before noon.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
takes
: agree with the subject
reflexives take
for must have: devra oublier is will have to forget

The other trap is the spelling: where you meant I will have finished says I would have finished. Proofread the ending of every auxiliary.

What to do next

  1. Say three things you will have done by the end of the year, with or .
  2. Explain a friend's lateness with a guess: .
  3. Then read quand plus the future, where this tense does most of its work.

Practise: test yourself

Build the word

0/4

Build the form from its pieces: the auxiliary in the future, or a participle that agrees.

  1. je + avoir, in the future: j'___ fini

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  2. elle + être, in the future: elle ___ partie

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  3. nous + avoir, in the future: nous ___ vendu la maison

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

  4. elles seront ___ (partir)

    Accents optional

    Your word is empty.

Sort into groups

0/6

Is each sentence about a future deadline, or a guess about the past?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Tap the mistake.

Complete the story

0/4

Choose the right auxiliary for each gap.

The birthday party

Ce soir, c'est l'anniversaire de Léa. À six heures, nous tout préparé, et ses parents arrivés de Lyon. Mais où est Paul ? Il ne répond pas : il oublié la fête ! Quand tout le monde arrivé, on chantera.

Gap 1 of 4

Pick the right one

0/4

Read the English, then choose the French that says it (written French).

  1. I will have finished before noon.

  2. In two hours they will have arrived.

  3. He must have forgotten.

  4. When you have finished, we will leave.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you form the antérieur in French?
Put the auxiliary into the and add the past participle: , , , , , . Verbs that take in the take here too, and the participle agrees with the subject: , . Reflexive verbs take as well: me . Only the auxiliary's tense is new.
What does mean?
Usually he must have forgotten. With no future point in the sentence, the antérieur is a guess about something already over: , , she is not here, she must have missed her train. With a future point it keeps its plain meaning: , , by tomorrow he will have forgotten. The everyday alternative for the guess is in the : a .
When do you use the antérieur rather than the ?
When one future action has to be over before a later point or a later action. , on (when you have finished, we will leave): the finishing comes first. If the two things happen at the same moment, the is enough: , -. A time phrase does the same job on its own: , .
What is the difference between and ?
One letter. is the antérieur, I will have finished, a real expectation. is the , I would have finished, the unreal past: , . Many speakers pronounce them the same, so the spelling carries the meaning. Under a past reporting verb the first becomes the second: a .
Does the antérieur agree like the ?
Yes, in every respect. With the participle agrees with the subject: , . With it agrees with a direct object placed before the verb: . Reflexives follow the reflexive rules: . There is no separate system to learn.