Spanish Blog

Even though this verb tense has this very strange and long name, it’s not difficult to use at all. It corresponds to English Future Perfect verb tense , showing that something will have happened at some time in the future.

Here’s how it is formed:

Future of haber (habré, habrás, habrá, habremos, habréis, habrán) + past participle of the main verb.

Some examples:

Para abril él ya habrá obtenido el permiso de conducir. – He will already have gotten his driver’s license by April.
Mañana, a esta hora, Pedro ya habrá salido de viaje. – Tomorrow, at this time, Pedro will have already gone on a trip.
Antes de fin de año habré cambiado mi auto por uno más nuevo. – Before the end of the year I will have changed my car for a new one.
María es una secretaria muy eficiente. Para las diez de la mañana ya habrá hecho todas las llamadas. – María is a very efficient secretary. By ten in the morning she will have already made all the calls.
Cuando decidas a dónde ir, tu esposa ya habrá desistido. – When you decide where to go, your wife will have already given up.

The Futuro Perfecto de Indicativo also indicates an assumption. Check out these examples:

Lo llamé varias veces pero no me contestó. Habrá salido. – I called him many times but he didn’t answer. He must have gone out.
Es la primera vez que viene aquí, pero todavía no ha llegado. Se habrá perdido. – This is the first time he’s coming here, but he hasn’t arrived yet. He must have gotten lost.
Los estudiantes están en la oficina del director, habrán hecho algo malo. – The students are in the principal’s office. They must have done something bad.

Esto es todo por hoy, mi gente. Nos vemos prontito.

We don’t always need to express the future in Spanish using the Futuro de Indicativo (hablaré, cantarás, etc.).

When we want to express plans and intentions we can use the indicative present form of ir (voy, vas, va, etc.) + a + infinitive of the main verb. We can also use the Presente or Imperfecto of the verb pensar (pienso / pensaba) + infinitivo.

With the first option we emphasize precise plans and with the second one we imply intention. We use the third form (pensaba) when we add a hint of willingness to negotiate what we have expressed. Take for example the question:

¿Qué vas a hacer el fin de semana?

The answer could be:

Voy a ir a la playa. (I’m going to go to the beach. I’ve already decided about it.)
Pienso ir a la playa. (I’ve thought about it, it’s almost decided.)
Pensaba ir a la playa. (I want to go, but if there’s something more interesting to do, I can change my mind.)

Sometimes we use a typical future verb form but we’re conveying another idea such as doubt, insecurity or hypothesis. Take a look at some of them:

* Come up with a hipothesis or express what we think is possible or likely (could express present or future)

¿Dónde estará Carlos? (Where could Carlos be?)
Estará en la escuela. (He might be at school.)
Será el mejor concierto del año. (It’s going to be the best concert of the year.)

We can also use a future form to give an idea of a past action. In this case we use the Futuro Perfecto.

María todavía no ha llegado, ¿le habrá pasado algo? (María hasn’t arrived yet, I wonder if something happened to her / what could have happened to her?)

We also use the Futuro Perfecto to express the idea of an action that will be completed in the future. In English we have the phrase will have + infinitive.

A esa hora mañana, ya habré terminado el proyecto. (At this time tomorrow, I will have finished the project.)

The Futuro de Indicativo form can also be used to express surprise, disbelief or contrast.

Será un profesor de inglés, pero no sabe hablarlo correctamente. (He may even be an English teacher, but he can’t speak it correctly.)

Eso es todo por hoy, mi gente. Nos vemos prontito.