Chapter 16Completing a Future Action with the Future Perfect In This Chapter Creating the future perfect tense Knowing the expressions that require the use of the future perfect In today
Trang 1Chapter 16
Completing a Future Action with the Future Perfect
In This Chapter
Creating the future perfect tense
Knowing the expressions that require the use of the future perfect
In today’s world, when everything has to be done yesterday, do you ever say to yourself
“I will have this or that done by a certain time,” such as before you leave the office or by Friday? If so, you use the future perfect tense
The future perfect tense is a compound tense requiring an auxiliary and a past participle You use it to describe events that will have taken place before another future action You can also use the future perfect alone to express that a future action will have been
com-pleted by a certain time in the future The meaning of this tense in English is will have done something You can also use the future perfect to express a probability or a supposition For
example, Paul n’est pas venu à l’école hier Il aura été malade means Paul did not come to
school yesterday He probably was/must have been ill.
Like the simple future tense (see Chapter 15), you use the future perfect with expressions
that imply a future action, such as when and as soon as In this chapter, you discover how to
form the future perfect tense and how to correctly use it
Forming the Future Perfect
The future perfect tense is a compound tense, and it follows the same pattern as all other
past compound tenses in French You need one of the two auxiliaries, avoir (to have) or
être (to be), followed by the past participle of any verb you want.
You form the future perfect by putting the auxiliaries in the future tense and adding the past participle of the verb of your choice Remember that the choice of the auxiliary depends on
the verb Most verbs take the auxiliary avoir, and some take être (For a list of these verbs
and for the formation of the past participles, see Chapter 12.)
First, you need to know how to conjugate avoir and être in the future tense After you
conju-gate the auxiliary, you add the past participle
Trang 2avoir (to have)
il/elle/on aura ils/elles auront Ils auront les résultats bientơt (They will have the results soon.)
être (to be)
il/elle/on sera ils/elles seront
Nous serons à l’heure (We will be on time.)
The following tables show three examples — the verbs finir (to finish), arriver (to
arrive ), and se réveiller (to wake up) Finir takes the auxiliary avoir, arriver takes
être, and se réveiller also takes être.
For pronominal verbs, place the pronominal pronoun in front of the auxiliary être,
which is followed by the past participle of the verb All pronominal verbs are
conju-gated with the auxiliary être.
finir (to finish)
il/elle/on aura fini ils/elles auront fini Ils auront fini avant le weekend (They will have finished before the weekend.)
arriver (to arrive)
je serai arrivé(e) nous serons arrivés(es)
tu seras arrivé(e) vous serez arrivé(s)(e)(es) il/elle/on sera arrivé(e) ils/elles seront arrivés(es) Nous serons arrivés avant le 5 aỏt (We will have arrived before the 5th of August.)
Trang 3se réveiller (to wake up)
je me serai réveillé(e) nous nous serons réveillés(es)
tu te seras réveillé(e) vous vous serez réveillé (s)(e)(es) il/elle/on se sera réveillé(e) ils/elles se seront réveillés(es)
Je me serai réveillé(e) de bonne heure pour préparer le petit-déjeuner
(I will have awakened early to prepare breakfast.)
Put the following verbs in the future perfect and then translate the sentences
Q.Je _ (finir) mes exercices
A.J’aurai fini mes exercices I will have finished my exercises.
1 Ils _ (avoir) un accident.
2 Elle _ (prendre) le vol d’avant.
3 Tu _ (ne pas manger) toute la journée.
4 Vous _ (partir) tôt.
5 Il lui _ (envoyer) des fleurs.
6 Elle _ (appeler) la police.
7 Ils _ (oublier) de fermer à clé.
8 Tu _ (voir) la Joconde.
9 Vous _ (gagner) la loterie.
10 Il _ (rentrer).
Trang 4
To put the future perfect in the negative, simply place the ne before the auxiliary and place pas or any other negative word after the auxiliary For pronominal verbs, the ne precedes the pronominal pronoun and the pas or another negative word follows the
auxiliary
Il n’aura pas fini sa composition avant la classe (He will not have finished his
composition before class.)
Tu ne te seras pas levé avant sept heures (You will not have gotten up by seven
o’clock.) Put these verbs in the future perfect tense and then translate the sentences
Q.Nous _ (ne pas se rencontrer) avant samedi
A.Nous ne nous serons pas rencontrés avant samedi We will not have met each other
before Saturday.
11 Il _ (partir) avant huit heures.
12 Nous _ (ne pas manger) avant de sortir.
13 Les enfants _ (rentrer) après avoir joué au foot.
14 Dans une semaine, tu _ (recevoir) ton diplôme.
15 Tu _ (se réveiller) avant notre départ.
16 Mes parents _ (ne pas arriver) avant dix heures.
17 Dans trois jours nous _ (partir) pour l’Australie.
18 Je _ (poster) les cartes postales avant la fin de la journée.
19 Avant de quitter le pays, Eric _ (vendre) sa voiture.
20 Tu _ (ne pas rester) après minuit.
Trang 5
Using the Future Perfect Correctly
Like the future tense (see Chapter 15), you can use the future perfect with expressions
that imply a future action, as in the expressions as soon as and when However, doing so
is very different from English, which uses the present or present perfect tense Check
out the following example: In English, you say As soon as I finish my courses, I will receive my diploma.You haven’t finished your courses yet, so this statement implies
a future action In French, you can either use the future simple tense in both clauses
(As soon as I will finish my courses, I will receive my diploma.) or because one action
(the fact that I will have to finish my courses) has to happen before another action can take place (I will receive my diploma), you use the future perfect followed by the future
(As soon as I will have finished my courses, I will receive my diploma).
Dès que je finirai mes cours, je recevrai mon diplôme (As soon as I will finish my
courses, I will receive my diploma.)
Dès que j’aurai fini mes cours, je recevrai mon diplôme (As soon as I will have
finished my courses, I will receive my diploma.)
You can also use the future or future perfect after the expressions après que (after),
tant que (as long as), or une fois que (once) if future action is implied Table 16-1 lists
some common French expressions If you see one of these expressions, you may need
to use the future perfect tense if the future is implied
Table 16-1 Common Future Perfect Expressions
French Expression English Translation après que after
aussitôt que as soon as
dès que as soon as
tant que as long as
une fois que once
Après que mes invités seront arrivés, je servirai l’apéritif (After my guests will
have arrived, I will serve the aperitif.) You can also use the future perfect to express or even explain a probability
Caroline n’est pas chez elle, elle aura travaillé tard (Caroline is not at home, she
must have had to work late.) Choose between the future and the future perfect Remember to put the action that has to come first in the future perfect and the action that comes second in the simple future
Trang 6Q.Une fois que nous _ (faire) nos devoirs, nous _ (aller) voir un film
A.Une fois que nous aurons fait nos devoirs, nous irons voir un film (Once we will have
done our homework, we will go see a movie.)
21 Je te _ (payer) aussitôt que je _ (toucher) mon chèque.
22 Après qu’il _ (trouver) un emploi, sa femme _
(ne plus travailler)
23 Lorsque que l’entrepreneur _ (construire) notre maison, nous
_ (déménager)
24 Nous _ (sortir) après qu’Alexandre _ (s’habiller).
25 Une fois que je _ (acheter) les billets, nous _ (pouvoir)
entrer
26 Quand je _ (finir) mes études, mes parents me _ (donner) un
cadeau
27 Vous _ (envoyer) votre curriculum vitae quand tu le _ (rédiger).
28 Tu _ (faire) le tour du monde lorsque tu _ (gagner) à la loterie.
29 Aussitôt que vous _ (se lever), je vous _ (préparer)
quelque chose à manger
30 Une fois qu’elle _ (prendre) des médicaments, elle _
(se sentir) mieux
Trang 7Answer Key
This section includes the answers to the practice problems in this chapter Compare your answers to see how you did
a Ils auront eu un accident They probably had/must have had an accident.
b Elle aura pris le vol d’avant She probably took/must have taken an earlier flight.
c Tu n’auras pas mangé toute la journée You will not have eaten/probably have not eaten all day.
d Vous serez parti tôt You will probably have left/must have left early.
e Il lui aura envoyé des fleurs He will have sent/probably sent her/him flowers.
f Elle aura appelé la police She will have called/probably called/must have called the police.
g Ils auront oublié de fermer à clé They probably forgot/must have forgotten to lock the door.
h Tu auras vu la Joconde You will have seen/probably saw/must have seen the Mona Lisa.
i Vous aurez gagné la loterie You probably won/must have won the lottery.
j Il sera rentré He will have come back home/probably came/must have come home.
k Il sera parti avant huit heures He will have left by eight o’clock.
l Nous n’aurons pas mangé avant de sortir We will not have eaten before leaving.
m Les enfants seront rentrés après avoir joué au foot The children will have come home after
having played soccer.
n Dans une semaine, tu auras reçu ton diplôme In a week, you will have received your diploma
(will have graduated).
o Tu te seras réveillé(e) avant notre départ You will have awakened before our departure.
p Mes parents ne seront pas arrivés avant dix heures My parents will not have arrived before/by
ten o’clock.
q Dans trois jours nous serons partis pour l’Australie In three days, we will have left for Australia.
r J’aurai posté les cartes postales avant la fin de la journée I will have mailed the postcards
before the end of the day.
s Avant de quitter le pays, Eric aura vendu sa voiture Before leaving the country, Eric will have
sold his car.
t Tu ne seras pas resté(e) après minuit You will not have stayed after midnight.
u Je te paierai aussitôt que j’aurai touché mon chèque (I will pay you as soon as I will have
cashed my check.)
v Après qu’il aura trouvé un emploi, sa femme ne travaillera plus (After he will have found a
job, his wife will no longer work.)
Trang 8w Lorsque que l’entrepreneur aura construit notre maison, nous déménagerons (When the
con-tractor will have built our house, we will move.)
x Nous sortirons après qu’Alexandre se sera habillé (We will go out after Alexandre will have
gotten dressed.)
y Une fois que j’aurai acheté les billets, nous pourrons entrer (Once I will have bought the tickets,
we will be able to enter.)
A Quand j’aurai fini mes études, mes parents me donneront un cadeau (When I will have
fin-ished my studies, my parents will give me a gift.)
B Vous enverrez votre curriculum vitae quand vous l’aurez rédigé (You will send your curriculum
vitae [résumé] when you will have written it up.)
C Tu feras le tour du monde lorsque tu auras gagné à la loterie (You will take a trip around the
world when you will have won the lottery.)
D Aussitôt que vous vous serez levé, je vous préparerai quelque chose à manger (As soon as
you will have gotten up, I will prepare you something to eat.)
E Une fois qu’elle aura pris des médicaments, elle se sentira mieux (Once she will have taken
medication, she will feel better.)