The future perfect past tense is used to describe an action that will already be complete in the future before a definite time.
For example:
‘I won’t get home until 20:00 now, by which time the film will have finished.’
All four conjugations form the future perfect tense in the same way and use the following endings.
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| -ero | I |
| -eris | you (singular) |
| -erit | he/she/it |
| -erimus | we |
| -eritis | you (plural) |
| -erint | they |
To form the future perfect of a verb, remove the ‘-i’ from the third principal part of the verb and add the relevant ending above.
For example:
confirmo, confirmare, confirmavi, confirmatum (1) to confirm.
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| confirmavero | I will have confirmed |
| confirmaveris | you will have confirmed |
| confirmaverit | he/she/it will have confirmed |
| confirmaverimus | we will have confirmed |
| confirmaveritis | you will have confirmed |
| confirmaverint | they will have confirmed |
Future perfect tense of sum, esse, fui, – ‘to be’
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| fuero | I will have been |
| fueris | you will have been |
| fuerit | he/she/it will have been |
| fuerimus | we will have been |
| fueritis | you will have been |
| fuerint | they will have been |
Uses
The future perfect is often used at the beginning of charters and deeds to describe a time in the future when the document will be read.
For example:
Omnibus ad quos hec presens carta pervenerit
To all to whom this present charter will have come.
It is also frequently found in wills to describe the intention of leaving property or money to someone else in the case that the original inheritor is no longer living when the testator dies.
For example:
[Et si]…predicta Lucia obierit absque heredibus tunc volo et concedo predictum messuagium Fidei
And if the aforesaid Lucy will have died without heirs, then I will and grant the aforesaid messuage to Faith.
Checklist
Are you confident with
- the meaning of a future perfect tense?
- the form of a future perfect tense?
- where you might come across the future perfect tense in documents?