18.8 Talking about what WILL HAVE happened
Language & Culture Lessons
Can the future exist in the past?
How can an action be completed if it occurs in the future tense?
When you are almost sure that an action will be completed in the future, or when an event is expected to happen before some other event –
you can use the Future Perfect to express actions that WILL HAVE HAPPENED.
In this lesson you'll learn about the Future Perfect tense to refer to future actions that are predicted or expected to be completed. By the end
of this lesson, you WILL HAVE learned 'El Futuro Perfecto'!
Language
El Futuro Perfecto
You can use the Future Perfect to explain what you'll do by a certain time or date. Such as, "I'll have finished my homework by tomorrow
morning." or "I'll have forgotten to do my homework when I go to bed."
With the Future Perfect – you combine the Future tense of the verb 'haber' with... yes, as all Perfect tenses we've seen in previous
lessons, the Past participle of the main verb.
I. Construcción
Here are three easy steps to form the Future Perfect - remember that you form this tense just like you form all the other Perfect
(compound) tenses in Spanish:
1. Take the verb in the Infinitive form : trabajar, comer, vivir
2. Drop the Infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add the past participle ending (-ado or -ido) : trabaj-ado, com-ido, viv-ido
3. Add the helping verb 'haber' in the future before the past participle
Now, the one downfall here is that the helping verb 'haber' in the Future tense does not follow the standard verb conjugation. So, let's
begin by getting the Irregular verb stem for 'haber':
We drop the -e from 'haber' and you get → habr
Now, all you have to do is add the Future verb endings – check out the chart below:
Subject
yo
tú
Ud./él/ella
nosotros/as
vosotros/as
Uds./ellos/ellas
Future tense endings
-é
-ás
-á
-emos
-éis
-án
Ok, now we can take a look at the conjugation for 'haber' in the future tense using the chart above as reference:
Subject
Future 'haber'
Translation
yo
habr+ -é → habré
I will have
tú
habr+ -ás→ habrás
You [inf] will have
Ud./él/ella
habr+ -á → habrá
You/he/she will have
nosotros/as
habr+-emos → habremos
We will have
vosotros/as
habr+-éis → habréis
You-all [inf] will have
Uds./ellos/ellas
habr+-án→ habrán
You-all [form]/they will have
Here's an example of how the helping verb 'haber' and the Past participle 'vivido' (lived) come together to form the Future Perfect tense:
Subject
'haber' + vivido
Translation
yo
I will have lived
habré vivido
tú
habrás vivido
You[inf] will have lived
Ud./él/ella
habrá vivido
You[form]/he/she will have lived
nosotros/as
habremos vivido
We will have lived
vosotros/as
habréis vivido
You-all[inf] will have lived
Uds./ellos/ellas
habrán vivido
You-all[form]/they will have lived
Use this as a model for conjugation all other verbs in the Future Perfect!
¡ATENCIÒN!
Because you conjugate verbs (or in this case, the helping verb 'HABER') according to the subjects that accompany them in Spanish the personal (subject) pronouns are somewhat redundant. You don't really need to include them, except in cases of emphasis or when
wanting to be clear about who will have done the action.
II. USO
The Future Perfect is used when the outcome is ALMOST certain - to express actions in the future that you are almost entirely sure will
happen. This tense allows you to discuss events, goals, plans, and deadlines in the future. Oh, and also my favorite subject;
Procrastination!
What can you do with the Future Perfect?
Use 1: Express an event that will be completed in the future before another event occurs
You can use the Future Perfect tense to talk about an action that will already have taken place when another action in the future takes
place.
Por ejemplo:
Habré bajado de peso...
I will have lost weight...
Habrás estudiado...
You will have studied...
Habré bajado de peso antes de casarme.
I will have lost weight before I get married.
Habrás estudiado antes de tomar el examen.
You will have studied before taking the exam.
Use 2: Express what will have happened by a given time in the future
You can also use the Future Perfect to describe an action that will have taken place at a certain time. You can often combine the Future
Perfect tense with the following expressions:
1. Para (For)
2. Cuando (When)
3. Dentro de (Within)
Para + [time expression]:
Para las 7, se habrán regresado.
By seven, they'll have returned.
Para diciembre, ya habréis terminado todos los exámenes.
By December, you-all will have finished all the exams.
Cuando + [time expression]:
Cuando regreses a casa, ya habré hablado con tu madre.
By the time you return home, I will have already spoken with your
mother.
Dentro de + [time expression]:
Dentro de una semana, ya habrá nacido nuestro hijo.
Within one week, our son will have already been born.
Use 3. Express probability of a recent past action
Have you ever wondered about the past? The Future Perfect let's you talk about probability in the past. Such sentences in this form
roughly translate as - "He's probably forgotten the date." Or , "You probably ate too much."
Take a look at the following two sentences – do you note the difference?
Present Perfect
Ella lo ha hecho.
She has done it.
Future Perfect
Ella lo habrá hecho.
She must have done it. OR She's probably done it.
In the sentence with the Present perfect 'ha hecho' – you are simply stating an action concerning something that has been done – there
is no uncertainty in what you're saying. Indeed, she has done it.
On the other hand, in the Future-perfect sentence with 'habrá hecho' – though there appears to be a sense of certainty – there exists a
slight doubt. It is this slight uncertainty that is suggested by using the future perfect.
Por ejemplo:
So let's practice wondering about the past...
You call your friend by phone, but there is no answer - you wonder...
¿A dónde habrá ido?
I wonder where he/she could've gone?
You find a set of keys on the kitchen table and wonder...
¿Habrá olvidado mi mujer sus llaves?
I wonder if my wife will have forgotten the keys.
You don't understand what has happened, and so you ask yourself:
¿Qué habrá pasado?
Use 4. Giving Future Commands
What will you have done while I'm gone?
I wonder what may have happened
The Future Perfect tense is used to give commands that are to be done in some future time.
Suppose you are a parent and you are on your way out to meet up some friends. You tell your son (who is staying at home) that by the
time you come home, he must have finished several chores...
"You will have made your bed, hanged your clothes, washed the dirty dishes, and cooked for the entire family!" or in Spanish:
Habrás hecho tu cama...
You WILL have made your bed...
Habrás colgado tu ropa...
Habrás lavado los trastes...
You WILL have hung your clothes... You WILL have cleaned the dishes...
Habrás hecho tu cama...
You WILL have made your bed...
Habrás colgado tu ropa...
You WILL have hung your clothes...
Habrás lavado los trastes sucios...
You WILL have cleaned the dirty dishes...
Habrás cocinado para toda la familia.
You WILL have cooked for the entire family.
Note that by emphasizing the word "WILL" in English suggests an emphatic and intense demand. The listener doesn't really have much
say.
I'm sure that once in your life your mother has told you..."When I come back, you WILL have eaten the spinach!" and indeed, you simply
HAD to obey and will have eaten it.
¡Cuando regrese, habrás comido la espinaca!
When I come back, you will have eaten the spinach!
Culture
Legends
As many ethnic groups, traditions, origins, languages - can be found in Latin America, there are also many oral traditions and stories to
explain the world the indigenous people lived in, as well as historic events.
We know them as legends, and they have surprising similarities with stories found in Europe and Asia.
Local versions of the Flood are found amongst so many different cultures like the Aztecs (Mexico), Mapuches (Chile), Incas (Peru),
Uros (Bolivia), and Mayans (Guatemala).
In Mexico the zarigueya (an American marsupial) is responsible for introducing fire to humans after stealing it, like Prometheus, in Greek
legends.
Some legends talk about local issues, like how corn and agriculture where introduced through one god´s mediation, keeping them from
starving in dry times by storing their seeds. Different stories about this seed can be found among Guaraníes (Paraguay and Argentina),
and isolated regions in Colombia and Mexico.
But not all legends are old or include gods. Some of the most famous are current beliefs to explain the unexplainable, like the
Chupacabras, a creature that only can be seen at night. It is responsible for the death of cattle and birds, leaving two blood marks in the
neck of its pray, and no sign of fight in the area. It is found in most parts of the continent, but especially in Central America, Mexico and
southern states of the US with Mexican colonies.
Other legends are kept to scare children, like el cuco, an evil being that eats the children that don't go to sleep or finish their meals. There
is even a lullaby they sing in Argentina and Chile: Duérmete niño, duérmete ya, que viene el cuco y te comerá (Fall asleep boy, fall
asleep know. The cuco is coming and will eat you!)
Do you think it works?
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