Posted by It is one thing to attempt to make expressions in the future and another to know the exact way to do that. With the German language having two types of future tenses which are both formed with the auxiliary verb werden makes it even more confusing when deciding whether to use the Futur I or Futur II since both can make an assumption which is either certain or uncertain. All of this you’ll get to find out below!
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| 1. What is the Futur II 2. How to form the Futur II 3. When to use the Futur II |
What Is The Futur II?
The Futur II also known as the future perfect tense in English, is the second of the two types of future tenses in German. It serves a purpose that is completely different from the Futur I counterpart which instead expresses future intentions and makes predictions or assumptions with a high degree of certainty unlike the Futur II which describes an action that is imagined in the future as already achieved. It also makes presumptions about what will happen in the future or has happened in the past.
How To Form The Future Perfect Tense In German?
The Futur II requires the auxiliary verb werden and an infinitive verb just like the Futur I but takes on an additional Partizip II verb form but unlike the Futur I that takes on just any infinitive, the Futur II takes on a fixed Infinitive of haben or sein depending on whether the Partizip II in use is a verb that implies motion/change of state or not just like in the perfect tense formation as illustrated table below.
| Motion/Change of State Verb | Non-motion Verb |
|---|---|
| Kommen | Machen |
| ich werde gekommen sein | ich werde gemacht haben |
| du wirst gekommen sein | du wirst gemacht haben |
| er/sie/es wird gekommen sein | er/sie/es wird gemacht haben |
| wir werden gekommen sein | wir werden gemacht haben |
| ihr werdet gekommen sein | ihr werdet gemacht haben |
| sie/Sie werden gekommen sein | sie/Sie werden gemacht haben |
Hence, the structure of the Futur II becomes: Werden + Partizip II + Haben/Sein with werden being the conjugated verb while the Partizip II and the infinitive of haben/sein goes to the end of the sentence in similar order. The meaning of werden remains as “will”.
Note that: Regardless of whether sein or haben is the infinitive, both translates as “have” in English instead of “be” and “have” respectively.
When Is It Used?
There are two ways to use the Futur II as follows;
- To make assumptions about activities in the past;
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 1. Sie werden einen Unfall gehabt haben. | They will have had an accident |
| 2. Ich werde mit dem Zug nach Hannover gefahren sein. | I will have gone by train to Hannover. |
| 3. Ich werde das Auto nach Hannover gefahren haben. | I will have driven the car to Hannover |
| 3. Er wird bei Google gearbeitet haben. | He will have worked at Google. |
- To make assumptions that an action will be completely done at a certain time in the future: This usage is made different from the first by including a futuristic adverb of time in the sentence as illustrated below.
| Bemerk | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| Negative | 1. Julio wird am Freitag das Gebäude nicht gemalt haben. | Julio will not have painted the building on Friday. |
| Question | 2. Wirst du die Aufgabe in zwei Wochen erledigt haben? | Will you have completed the task in two weeks? |
| Positive | 3.Ich glaube, dass alle achtziger geborene Menschen im Jahr 2100 schon gestorben sein werden. | I believe, that all 80s Born will have already passed away by the year 2100. |