French Grammar Guide for non-francophones

Futur antérieur (e.g.: j'aurai parlé)

On this page: Description, Questions, Exercises

Description

An Overview of the Futur Antérieur

The futur antérieur is used to describe a future action the precedes another future action, e.g.: Quand tu arrives, j'aurai terminé mes devoirs ("When you arrive, I will have finished my homework").

It tends to follow a sentence written in the present or the futur simple.

How to form the futur antérieur

The futur antérieur is formed by using the futur simple of avoir, followed by the past participle. This is illustrated in the following table:

futur antérieur Translation
j'aurai parlé "I will have spoken"
tu auras parlé "you will have spoken"
il,elle, on aura parlé "he, she, one will have spoken"
nous aurons parlé "we will have spoken"
vous aurez parlé "you will have spoken"
ils/elles auront parlé "they will have spoken"

Questions

Questions about the Futur Antérieur

 Q: Why is it Quand tu arrives, j'aurai terminé and NOT Quand tu arrives, j'aurais terminé?

Be careful not to use the past conditional where the futur antérieur should be used. Remember, the futur antérieur usually follows a verb conjugated in the present or simple future which is often preceded by the word Quand. The past conditional, on the other hand, tends to follow a verb in the plus-que-parfait, preceded by the word Si.

Q: Why is it J'aurais voulu t'aider and NOT J'aurai voulu t'aider?

Here, you need the past conditional ("I would like to have helped you"), not the futur antérieur.

Exercises

Provide the futur antérieur for the follow pronouns and verbs:

Elle (terminer).
Nous (manger).
Ils (voir).
Vous (comprendre).
Viens me voir quand tu (finir).

Choose between the futur antérieur and the past conditional:

Quand j'aurai 20 ans, mon père (arrêter) de travailler.
Si tu avais fait plus d'effort, tu (faire) moins de fautes.
Quand est-ce que tu (terminer) le travail?

Tags: verbs future past conditional futur simple
Verb conjugation:
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