Create a new page
Create a classroom
Create a syllabus
Create a group project
Use another template

Purpose

This page will focus in particular on the future perfect in compound sentences. How do you bring them into English?

Formation

Active (Latin I)

Use the stem of the 3rd principal part of the verb (knock off the -ī) and add the following endings:

—erō	—erimus
—eris	—eritis
—erit	—erint

This ending set is identical to the FutureTense of sum, except for the final form, which has -i- instead of the -u- of erunt ("they will be").
Example:

steterō	steterimus
steteris	steteritis
steterit	steterint

Passive (Latin II)

Coming Soon: Information on the future perfect passive.

Translation

The translation of the future perfect is, for once in Latin, fairly straightforward:

will have VERBed

But wait, there's more. Sometimes the translation is more complicated. See the section on usage in Latin section for details.

English Usage

The future perfect tense in English has become a virtual dinosaur: it's practically extinct. If not for Latin teachers, it would probably have long since disappeared. One does not, after all, say this sort of thing too often

We shall have eaten dinner by seven o'clock.

Nonetheless, the future perfect still exists, sometimes sort of backward:

I'll have the paper finished by tomorrow.

instead of

I'll have finished the paper by tomorrow.

I think future perfect pops up most commonly in what I call the "by then sentences," where you state what you haven't done yet, but what you will have done by time X:

No, I haven't done my holiday shopping yet, but I'll have finished buying everything by Christmas Eve.

Latin Usage

Perhaps Latin is more precise than English when it comes to the future. English speakers tend to split everything into now (or almost now):

I'm reading about future perfect right now.
We're meeting some friends tomorrow.

and definitely later to make a point:

Stop bugging me, I will clean my room.
Will you have a chance to visit your sister when you're in Cleveland? (Notice that the second verb slips back into PresentTense even though the future is meant.)

By contrast, if Latin refers to the future time, it distinguishes between the future as an eventually completed act or the future as still to happen (see the cartoon above). For that eventually completed act, Latin uses the future perfect tense. The tense seldom occurs alone, as these examples will show

(NOTE: If all you want is "How to Translate Future Perfect Correctly," just read the boldface sentences for options.)

Cum in caupōnam meam intrāveritis, vōbīs cēnam optimam servī parābunt.
Most literal translation:
- When you will have entered my inn, the slaves will prepare an excellent dinner for you.
  Comment: Both events (or halves of the sentence) have not yet happened, but the one is the prerequisite of the other and must happen first.
What an English speaker would probably say:
- When you enter my inn, the slaves will prepare an excellent dinner for you.
  Comment: Since you are about to enter the inn, are practically standing on the threshold, English just uses PresentTense for the first half, but then contrasts it with a clear FutureTense in the second half.
If that weren't enough, here's a third option:
- When you have entered my inn, the slaves will prepare an excellent dinner for you.
  Comment: Do you know that the three dots (. . .) used when we omit something from our writing are called elipsis? This sentence seems to use a past tense construction, but is actually an elipsis for future perfect. All we've done is leave out the "will." Try again:
  At some point in the future when you will already have entered my inn, thereupon the slaves will prepare an excellent dinner for you.
  From the perspective of the far future, the entrance is a past event, but from the perspective of the present, it's still to occur.

Another Example:

Sī servī cistās in raedam posuerint, discēdēmus.
Most literal translation:
- If the slaves will have placed the trunks into the carriage, we will depart.
But look what else works:
- If the slaves will place the trunks into the carriage, we will depart.
  Comment: This time, English speakers use commonsense and the cue word if to help us. The if half of the sentence (the technical term is the protasis) has to occur before the conclusion in the then half (the technical term is the apodosis).
  Even though both clauses of the sentence are expressed the same way, we know which one happens first.
What an English speaker would probably say:
- If the slaves place the chests into the carriage, we will depart.
  Comment: Again, the first half is in PresentTense. If the slaves are going to do this at some point in the near future, we will depart.

BUT

Notice what won't work this time around:

Sī servī cistās in raedam posuerint, discēdēmus.
- If the slaves are placing the chests into the carriage [right now], we will depart.
  Comment: That would be awkward, since we'd be driving off while the loading is presumably still going on.
- If the slaves have placed the chests into the carriage, we will depart.
  Comment: There's nothing wrong with this sentence, except that one half is not talking about the future. "The slaves have placed the chests into the carriage" means it has already happened, not that we're waiting for them to finish so that we can then leave.

The MORAL

Think through the time relationships carefully when you are dealing with the future perfect. What is the writer/speaker trying to convey? Do you have an obligation to bring the original time relationship into English? Is your priority to produce a natural-sounding English sentence? Do the practices assigned and check with your teacher for guidelines. Usually, you will be able to produce more than one correct option.