Italian Grammar Bank
ITALIAN FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
The futuro anteriore (or compound future) is a verbal tense of the indicative that expresses facts projected into the future but occurring before others.
The future anterior is formed by the future simple of an auxiliary (essere or avere) and the past participle of the verb.
CONJUGATION OF VERBS
ESSERE & AVERE
| ESSERE | AVERE |
|---|---|
| io sarò stato | io avrò avuto |
| tu sarai stato | tu avrai avuto |
| lui-lei sarà stato | lui-lei avrà avuto |
| noi saremo stati | noi avremo avuto |
| voi sarete stati | voi avrete avuto |
| loro saranno stati | loro avranno avuto |
OTHER VERBS
The future anterior is formed with the simple future of the auxiliaries essere or avere plus the past participle of the verb.
In the following table, observe the future anterior of verbs of the three conjugations:
| mangiare | credere | partire |
|---|---|---|
| io avrò mangiato | o avrò creduto | io sarò partito |
| tu avrai mangiato | tu avrai creduto | tu sarai partito |
| lui-lei avrà mangiato | lui-lei avrà creduto | lui-lei sarà partito |
| noi avremo mangiato | noi avremo creduto | noi saremo partiti |
| voi avrete mangiato | voi avrete creduto | voi sarete partiti |
| loro avranno mangiato | loro avranno creduto | loro saranno partiti |
USES & FUNCTIONS
Like the future simple, the future anterior is employed not only with futural value (i.e. to indicate future time), but also with retrospective value.
PATTERN
Subject + Future of avere or essere + Past Participle of the Main Verb
➡️ When it has temporal value, the future anterior encodes an event subsequent to the moment of utterance but prior to a reference moment or other event located in the future:
Quando la mamma rientrerà, i bambini saranno già andati a dormire.
By the time mother returns, the children will have already gone to bed.View More Examples:
| Potrai guardare la televisione, quando avrai finito di studiare. | You will be able to watch television (action expressed in the future tense), when you have finished studying (action that takes place before the action expressed in the future tense) |
| Fra tre anni Luca avrà conseguito la specializzazione in psichiatria e potrà lavorare nello studio del padre. | In three years’ time Luca will have completed his specialisation in psychiatry and will be able to work in his father’s practice. |
| Appena avrò letto questo libro, ti darò la mia opinione. | As soon as I have read this book, I will give you my opinion. |
In the presence of verbs expressing a phase of the verbal process (such as finire (to finish), iniziare (begin), etc.), the moment of the event may include the moment expressed by the temporal determination:
| Alle otto avrò finito di cucinare e potrò uscire. | At eight o’clock I will have finished cooking and can go out. |
| Non appena lo spettacolo sarà iniziato, chiederò a tutti di fare silenzio. | As soon as the show starts, I will ask everyone to be quiet. |
In this example, the event finire di cucinare can also occur at eight o’clock. The future anterior does not indicate exactly when the event will take place, rather it signals that it will happen within a given time.
Compared to the other compound tenses (passato prossimo and trapassato prossimo), the future anterior exhibits greater “perfectivity”.
In fact, it is used more often with verbs that presuppose the completion of the process, while it is more difficult to use it in the futural sense with stative verbs (which describe qualities or states over which the subject has no control):
| Alle tre avrà avuto fame. | At three o’clock he will have been hungry. |
| Avrà perso il treno, altrimenti non mi spiego perché non sia ancora venuto. | He must have missed the train, otherwise I can’t explain why he hasn’t come yet. |
This example admits only an epistemic reading (‘probably at three o’clock he got hungry’).
➡️The future anterior is in fact used to express doubt or uncertainty; in everyday spoken language, this use of the future anterior is the most frequent. Let us see more examples:
| Giulia non c’è, sarà andata a fare la spesa. | Giulia is not here, she must have gone shopping (= Giulia is not here, she probably went shopping). |
| Marco è in ritardo, avrà perso l’autobus. | Marco is late, he will have missed the bus (= Marco is late, he may have missed the bus). |
➡️ We also use the future anterior to express an assumption in the past tense:
| Sarai stato felice ieri con tutta la giornata libera! | You must have been happy yesterday with the whole day off! (= I suppose you were happy yesterday as you had the whole day off); |
| Sarete stati soddisfatti di aver passato l’esame! | You must have been happy that you passed the exam! (= I suppose you were happy that you passed the exam). |
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FAQs
When is the futuro anteriore used in Italian?
The Futuro Anteriore is used to express an action that will be completed before a specific point in the future, often in relation to another future event.
What is the difference between Futuro Semplice and Futuro Anteriore?
Futuro Semplice describes actions that will happen in the future. Domani partirò – “Tomorrow I will leave”
Futuro Anteriore refers to actions that will have already been completed by a certain future moment.
Domani a quest’ora sarò già partito – “Tomorrow at this time, I will have already left”
How do I form the Futuro Anteriore in Italian?
It is formed using the future tense of essere or avere as the auxiliary verb, followed by the past participle of the main verb (e.g., avrò mangiato, sarò andato).
How do I know whether to use essere or avere in Futuro Anteriore?
The same rules as Passato Prossimo apply: use essere for verbs of movement, change of state, or reflexive verbs (e.g., sarò arrivato – “I will have arrived”) and avere for transitive verbs (e.g., avrò finito – “I will have finished”).
Can Futuro Anteriore be used to express doubt?
Yes, it is often used to express uncertainty or conjecture about a past event (e.g., Dove sarà andato? – “Where could he have gone?”).
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