Future Perfect (Futur II) in German

Overview

The Futur II (Futur II) is a compound tense that expresses actions that will be completed by a certain point in the future. In English, this corresponds to "will have done": Bis morgen werde ich das gemacht haben (By tomorrow, I will have done that). It is a B2-level topic that adds precision to your ability to discuss future timelines.

However, the Futur II has a second — and arguably more common — function in modern German: expressing assumptions or conjectures about the past. When someone says Er wird wohl schon gegangen sein (He has probably already left), they are not talking about the future at all, but speculating about what has likely already happened. This speculative use is what you will encounter most often in everyday German.

Understanding the Futur II gives you the tools to handle both future-oriented deadlines and past-oriented guesses, making your German more precise and expressive at the B2 level.

How It Works

Structure: werden (conjugated) + past participle + haben/sein (infinitive)

Person	With haben	With sein
ich	werde ... gemacht haben	werde ... gegangen sein
du	wirst ... gemacht haben	wirst ... gegangen sein
er/sie/es	wird ... gemacht haben	wird ... gegangen sein
wir	werden ... gemacht haben	werden ... gegangen sein
ihr	werdet ... gemacht haben	werdet ... gegangen sein
sie/Sie	werden ... gemacht haben	werden ... gegangen sein

Two main uses:

Function	Signal words	Example	Translation
Completed future	bis (morgen/nächste Woche), bevor	Bis morgen werde ich es geschafft haben.	By tomorrow I will have managed it.
Past assumption	wohl, wahrscheinlich, sicher, bestimmt	Er wird wohl schon gegangen sein.	He has probably already left.

Word order: In main clauses, werden is in position 2, and the past participle + haben/sein cluster at the end. In subordinate clauses, werden joins them at the end: ..., weil er das gemacht haben wird.

Examples in Context

German	English	Note
Bis morgen werde ich das gemacht haben.	By tomorrow I will have done that.	Completed future action
Er wird wohl schon gegangen sein.	He has probably already left.	Assumption about the past
Sie wird das vergessen haben.	She will have forgotten that.	Assumption or future completion
Bis Ende des Jahres werden wir umgezogen sein.	By the end of the year, we will have moved.	Future deadline
Er wird das sicher gewusst haben.	He surely knew that. / He will have surely known that.	Past assumption
Bevor du kommst, werde ich alles vorbereitet haben.	Before you come, I will have prepared everything.	Sequence of future events
Sie werden wohl den Zug verpasst haben.	They probably missed the train.	Speculating about what happened
Bis nächste Woche wird der Bericht fertig geschrieben worden sein.	By next week, the report will have been finished.	Passive Futur II (rare)
Du wirst dich bestimmt gewundert haben.	You must have been surprised.	Assumption about someone's reaction
In zehn Jahren wird sich vieles verändert haben.	In ten years, a lot will have changed.	Long-term future perspective

Common Mistakes

Confusing Futur II with Futur I

• Wrong: Bis morgen werde ich das machen. (when you mean "will have done")
• Right: Bis morgen werde ich das gemacht haben.
• Why: Futur I (werde machen) talks about future actions; Futur II (werde gemacht haben) talks about actions that will be completed by a future point.

Wrong position of haben/sein

• Wrong: Ich werde haben das gemacht.
• Right: Ich werde das gemacht haben.
• Why: Haben or sein always comes at the very end after the past participle.

Using Futur II when Perfekt suffices

• Awkward: Bis wir ankommen, werden sie schon gegessen haben. (overly formal)
• More natural: Bis wir ankommen, haben sie schon gegessen.
• Why: In spoken German, the Perfekt with schon or bis often replaces the Futur II. Reserve Futur II for written German or when you want to emphasize the speculative nature.

Usage Notes

The Futur II is considerably more common in its speculative function than in its literal "future perfect" function. In daily conversation, Germans frequently use the Perfekt with time markers like bis, schon, or bereits instead of the Futur II for completed future actions. The Futur II, however, remains the standard choice in formal writing.

When used for speculation, the Futur II is often accompanied by modal particles: wohl (probably), sicher (certainly), bestimmt (surely), wahrscheinlich (probably). These particles signal that the speaker is guessing, not stating a fact. Without them, the sentence may be ambiguous between a future-completion and a speculation reading.

The Futur II is relatively rare in spoken German compared to other tenses. When you hear it, it almost always carries a speculative meaning. In contrast, written German — especially in academic, journalistic, and official texts — uses both functions more evenly.

A passive Futur II exists (wird gemacht worden sein) but is extremely rare and mostly confined to very formal written contexts. You should recognize it but are unlikely to need to produce it.

Practice Tips

1. Practice expressing assumptions about what your friends or family have probably done today: Meine Mutter wird schon eingekauft haben. Mein Bruder wird wohl noch geschlafen haben. This builds comfort with the speculative use.
2. Write a to-do list for the week, then describe what you will have accomplished by Friday using Bis Freitag werde ich...haben/sein constructions.
3. When reading German news, look for Futur II constructions with wohl or dürfte. They are common in political commentary when journalists speculate about what leaders have likely decided or done.

Related Concepts

• Future Tense (Futur I) — the simpler future tense that forms the basis for Futur II