B2 · The future
Future perfect (futuro composto)
Two jobs: what will be done by Friday, and what probably happened yesterday.
At a glance
- Remember
- What is finished before the other future stands in the futuro composto.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
Completed in the future — What will already be finished by some point in the future.
- Form
- (eu) terei acabadoI will have finished
- Signal words
- terei
- terá
- terão
- já
- quando tiveres
- Trap
- Wrong:Quando chegares, saio — não me vais encontrar.Right:Quando chegares, já terei saído — não me vais encontrar.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Portuguese. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker auxiliary verb
| I will have finished | (eu) terei acabado |
| you will have finished | (tu) terás acabado |
| he will have finished, you will have finished | (ele, ela, você) terá acabado |
| we will have finished | (nós) teremos acabado |
| you will have finished, plural and formal | (vós) tereis acabado |
| they will have finished, you all will have finished | (eles, elas, vocês) terão acabado |
| when I have finished | quando (eu) tiver acabado |
| when you have finished | quando (tu) tiveres acabado |
| when he has finished, when you have finished | quando (ele, ela, você) tiver acabado |
| when we have finished | quando (nós) tivermos acabado |
| when you have finished, plural and formal | quando (vós) tiverdes acabado |
| when they have finished, when you all have finished | quando (eles, elas, vocês) tiverem acabado |
| she will have left | terá partido |
| they will have understood | terão percebido |
| something will have happened | terá acontecido algo |
| we will have arrived | teremos chegado |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Built from ter in the future plus the participle.
Às oito já terei acabado.By eight I will already have finished.
In the main clause, for what is done by a given point.
Daqui a um ano terei aprendido português.In a year I will have learnt Portuguese.
As a guess about the past.
Terá esquecido a reunião.He will have forgotten the meeting.
In a clause after quando the compound futuro do conjuntivo stands.
Quando tiveres lido, assina.When you have read it, sign.
Example sentences
Quando chegares, já teremos jantado.By the time you arrive we will already have had dinner.
Não atende. Terá saído.He is not answering. He will have gone out.
Terão tido um contratempo.Something will have come up for them.
Até sexta terei entregue o relatório.By Friday I will have handed in the report.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The simple future says only that both things lie ahead, not which comes first. Quando chegares, saio means: then I leave. Quando chegares, já terei saído means: by then I am gone. Where the order is the point, the compound form is needed.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Two things in the future, one before the other: Quando chegares, já terei saído. The leaving comes first, and that is what the futuro composto is for: ter in the future plus the participle.
In a subordinate clause you hardly need it, because there the futuro do conjuntivo stands — quando tiveres acabado is its compound form. In the main clause it says what will be finished by a given point.
The commoner use is the guess about the past: Terá chegado ontem — he will have arrived yesterday, he probably did. English has both jobs in one form as well, which makes this the easiest thing in the whole area to transfer.
The participle never changes; Portuguese builds every compound tense with ter, so there is no choice of auxiliary to make and no agreement to get right.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: ter · chegar · sair · ler · acabar · assinar · entregar · aprender