Today, we will be talking about one topic only: the future perfect, or futur antérieur.
❑ Like its English counterpart, the French future perfect tense is used to talk about an action that will have happened or been completed at a certain time in the future.
❑ If you need to talk about the past in the future, the future perfect will be used.
Listen to Week 21 Day 4 Track 1
Je viendrai demain, quand j’aurai mangé. (I’ll come tomorrow, when I have eaten.)
Oui mais seulement lorsque tu auras fini ton dessert. (Yes, but only as soon as you will have finished your dessert.)
Let’s start with the simple part. The rules for forming this tense are pretty straightforward.
❑ Since this is a compound tense, you will need the auxiliary verb (“avoir” or “être”) to be in the simple future tense followed by a past participle.
For example: parler becomes J’aurai parlé.
❑ The rule for choosing the auxiliary, as well as the rule for agreement of the past participle, is similar to any other compound tense (passé composé, plus-que-parfait, conditionnel passé, etc.).
The different ways the future perfect tense is used:
❑ The future perfect tense is used when talking about an action that will take place and will be completed before another action in the future.
Listen to Week 21 Day 4 Track 2
Je prendrai vos valises lorsque vous serez descendus du train.
I will take your luggage as soon as you exit the train.
(prendrai = simple future) (descendu = perfect future)
❑ The future perfect is also used to express a completed action (achievement) in the future.
Listen to Week 21 Day 4 Track 3
Dès que vous accepterez la proposition, on discutera en détail les missions. (As soon as you accept the offer, we’ll discuss the missions in detail.)
Both clauses are in the simple future tense. It is implied that two actions take place simultaneously.
Here is another example:
Dès que vous aurez accepté la proposition, on discutera en détail les missions. (As soon as you accept (will have accepted) the offer, we’ll discuss the missions in detail.)
❑ In this example, the idea is that the first action should be done first (i.e., the proposition should be accepted) before the second action can take place (i.e., the details of the mission will be discussed).
Vocabulaire complémentaire
Listen to Week 21 Day 4 Track 4
| French | English | French Example | English Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ordonner (vt) | to order (vt) | Le juge pourrait ordonner sa sentence aujourd'hui. | The judge could order his sentence today. |
| obéir (vt) | to obey (vi, vt) | Les enfants devraient obéir à leurs parents en tout temps. | Children should obey their parents at all times. |
| droit(e) | straight | On dirait qu'elle se dirige droit vers la porte. | Looks like she's heading straight to the door. |
| courbé(e) | curved | L'accident lui fit le dos courbé. | The accidet made her back curved. |
| le paradis | heaven | Cet endroit ressemble au paradis. | This place feels like heaven. |
| l'enfer | hell | Nous avons tous notre propre idée de ce que sera l'enfer. | We all have our own idea of what hell will be like. |
| naître (vi) | to be born | Son enfant devrait naître le jour de Noël. | Her child should be born on Christmas day. |
| mourir (vi) | to die (vi) | Si ce navire coule, beaucoup de gens vont mourir. | If that ship sinks a lot of people are going to die. |
| fort(e) | strong | Il a besoin d'une forte volonté pour terminer son projet. | He needs a strong will to finishing his project. |
| faible | weak | Le rhinocéros orphelin était trop faible pour marcher lorsqu'il a été secouru. | The orphaned rhino was too weak to walk when it was rescued. |
| vieux / vieille | old | Mon grand-père est vieux, mais il apprécie toujours un verre de bière. | My grandpa is old but still enjoys a glass of beer. |
| jeune | young | N'importe qui paierait une fortune pour redevenir jeune. | Anyone would pay a fortune to be young again. |
Speaking Practice 1
A Quick Recap of this Lesson-
Un petit résumé de la leçon
Today, we discussed the future perfect tense.
Sharpen Your Knowledge with Exercises
Exercise 1
Answer the questions about the dialogue:
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
For each sentence, choose the right answer:
Responses