Future Perfect Tense in Spanish Grammar

Just here for the exercises? Click here.

What is the futuro compuesto?

The futuro compuesto/futuro perfecto de indicativo, or future perfect indicative is used in Spanish to express a forthcoming action that will have concluded before another future action. It can also express the assumption that an action would have occurred in the past.

Learn how and when to use the future perfect in Spanish grammar and master the conjugation of regular and irregular verbs with Lingolia’s grammar rules and exercises. In tense comparison, you will find an overview of all the tenses in Spanish grammar.

Example

—¿Por qué está desmontando su bici Jorge?

—Se habrá caído de la bicicleta o habrá tenido una avería.

—¡Oh, no! En una hora queríamos dar una vuelta en bici.

—¡No te preocupes! Para entonces ya la habrá reparado.

When to use the Spanish future perfect?

Use the future perfect indicative in Spanish to express:

  • an action that will have been completed by a certain point in the future. We always use a time marker in this context.
Example:
Jorge salió muy temprano con la bicicleta. Para la hora de comer, habrá vuelto a casa.Jorge went out early on his bike. He will have come back by lunch time.
  • an assumption about an action that happened in the past.
Examples:
Se habrá caído de la bicicleta.He will have fallen off his bike.
Habrá tenido una avería.He will have had an accident.
  • an assumption about the future.
Example:
La semana que viene va de excursión con unos amigos. Para entonces habrá reparado la avería.Next week he’s going on a trip with some friends. By then he will have repaired the damage.

Verb Conjugation in Spanish Future Perfect

To conjugate verbs in future perfect (futuro perfecto), we use the future forms of the verb haber, as well as the past participle.

Person haber Past Participle
yo habré

hablado

aprendido

vivido
tú habrás
él/ella/usted habrá
nosotros/-as habremos
vosotros/-as habréis
ellos/ellas/ustedes habrán

Reflexive Verbs

When the verb is reflexive, the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, os, se) always comes before the auxiliary verb haber.

Example:
(Yo) me habré olvidado las llaves en casa.I must have forgotten my keys at home

Past Participle

To form the Spanish past participle, replace the infinitive ending -ar with the ending -ado and the endings -er and -ir with the ending -ido.

Example:
hablar - hablado
aprender - aprendido
vivir - vivido

Irregular past participles

  • If there is a vowel directly before the -ido ending, we add an accent to the i of the ending. This shows us that each vowel is pronounced separately (not as a diphthong).

    Example:
    leer – leído
    traer - traído
  • Some verbs have an irregular and/or regular participle form. These can be found in the following list:
Verb Irregular Participle Regular Participle
abriropen abierto
decirsay/tell dicho
escribirwrite escrito
hacermake/do hecho
freírfry frito freído
imprimirprint impreso imprimido
morirdie muerto
ponerput puesto
proveerprovide provisto proveído
suscribirsign/subscribe suscrito/suscripto
versee visto
volverreturn vuelto

Irregular verbs and their derivatives

Verbs formed by adding a prefix to an irregular verb form their participles in the same way as the original verb.

Examples:
encubrir → encubierto
descubrir → descubierto
componer → compuesto
posponer → pospuesto
proponer → propuesto
resolver → resuelto
revolver → revuelto
devolver → devuelto
deshacer → deshecho
prever → previsto