German Future II

Lesson outline

1.Usage and definition of future II (future perfect)
2.Marker words that indicate the future perfect tense in German
3.How to conjugate verbs in future II
3.1.When to use sein or haben
4.Exercises
4.1.German future II exercise
4.2.Exercise: Build the German future II
4.3.Multiple choice exercise of future II in German

Usage and definition of future II (future perfect)

The Future II describes, that an action will have been closed and completed in a specific time in the future. It is mostly used to express past probabilities or likelihood. When used in this way, an adverb like sicher, vielleicht, wahrscheinlich or dort is often used in the same sentence. Except of this usage, the tense is rarely used.

For example:

Warum ist das Auto kaputt? (Why is the car broken?)

Das Auto wird wohl eine Panne gehabt haben. (The probably had a malfunction)
Hoffentlich wird die Werkstatt es in einer Woche repariert haben. (Hopefully the car shop will have repaired it until next week)

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Marker words that indicate the future perfect tense in German

There are some words, that indicate the perfect future tense (Futur II) in German.

Marker words	Translation
wohl	probably
sicher	surely
bestimmt	certainly

How to conjugate verbs in future II

To use the future II tense in the correct way, you need to watch a certain rule when constructing it:

right conjugation of the auxiliary 'werden' in present + past participle of the full verb + infinitive of sein or haben

See the conjugation of the auxiliary 'werden' in present below.

Subject	Auxiliary 'werden'
ich	werde
du	wirst
er/sie/es	wird
wir	werden
ihr	werdet
sie/Sie	werden

If you want to learn how to conjugate the past participle, have a look the the special chapter about the past participle in German.

When to use sein or haben

It's important to know when to use which auxiliary. There are some rules you have to remember.

When to use 'sein'	When to use 'haben
when talking about conditions	use with all other verbs
when talking about location changes	use with relefxive verbs
with 'sein', 'werden' and 'haben'

See some examples here:

Ich werde nach Hause gegangen sein. (I will have gone home.)
Sie werden den Marathon gelaufen sein. (They will have ran the marathon.)
Du wirst das Buch gelesen haben. (You will have read the book.)
Wir werden von unserem Ausflug erzählt haben. (We will have told you from our trip.)
Ihr werdet über die Prüfung geredet haben. (You will have talked about the exam.)

Now, that you have learned about the future I and future II, strengthen your ability about these tenses in our exercises.