Futur Antérieur and Conditionnel Passé Verb Tenses

In this aide memoire we will review the futur antérieur “will have” and the conditionnel passé or “would have”.  These are normally found on the latter third of the test as more advanced questions.  These questions usually will give you 1-3 points, so are less important than knowing the vocabulary list, other verb conjugations, or gender issues but are needed to get a C or E level in grammar and oral exams.  Recognizing them will also give you a better chance at gaining an extra point or two if you happen to miss some of the easier questions.  Remember that the VANDERTERAP, reflexive, and direct object issues still apply to these tenses.  These tenses are used similarly in English and in French with a couple of minor differences we will explain here and in the accompanying exercise.

Futur Antérieur

This tense is used to state something that will have happened or completed at some point in the future or to specify “must have”.  The formula is:

Être/avoir in future tense + past participle of the action/other verb

Examples better show this:

Example 1

Il aura parlé à l’avocat avant votre départ./ He will have spoken to the lawyer before your departure.

In this example aura (he will have) is followed by the past participle of parler then the rest of what is happening.

Example 2

Il n’aura pas parlé à l’avocat lorsque vous partirez./He will not have spoken to the lawyer by the time you will depart.

In this example we see the futur antérieur being used in the same way as the last example but we also see the future tense used in the second part of the phrase.  This phrase is awkward in English as we would simply say “…by the time you leave”.  Note where the negation goes.  So, we can use different tenses in the same phrase.  We also see a conjunction (connecting word)—lorsque and French speaking and grammar often uses older versions of grammar similarly to what we would term as “old English”.  This ties into the next clue.

Common conjunctions used include:

après que/after

aussitôt que/as soon as

dès que/as soon as

lorsque/when

quand/when

une fois que/once

 

Example 3

Je vous dirai le secret une fois que vous aurez fermé la porte./I will tell you the secret once you have closed the door.

This example uses a conjunction and two futur antérieur phrases.  Note that “…once you have closed the door” in English is really said “…once you will have closed the door” in French.  This can be a trick on the exam so watch for the context of the phrase, the tenses of the verbs, and for those conjunctions.

Example 4

Auront-ils commencé le processus avant la fin de la semaine. /Will they have begun the process before the end of the week.

Note how the inversion works just the same as the other tenses.

Example 5

Nous aurons dû perdre les documents dans le déménagement./ We must have lost the documents in the move.

In this example, the futur antérieur denotes “must have” as in something must have happened.  It is unlikely you will see this form on the exam as it is not common and can be expressed in other ways.  Likewise, historical narratives/speaking about long ago, are unlikely to be on the exam so we won’t cover them here.

Conditionnel Passé

We will combine this aide memoire with the conditionnel passé so you can get a better feel for the difference in writing between conditional and future tenses as this will help you with recognizing the difference between these on the exam.

Conditionnel passé is essentially the same as the futur antérieur but with a conditional nexus in that something could have, should have, or would have happened in the past.  VANDERTRAMP, reflexive, and complement objet direct apply again here.  We will use only some VANDERTRAMP and reflexive examples here.

The formula is:

Être/avoir in conditional tense + past participle of the action/other verb

 

Here are some examples:

Example 1  With Avoir

J’aurais fait mes devoirs, mais j’étais fatigué./I would have done my homework, but I was tired.

 

Example 2 With Negation

Je n’aurais pas marché plus loin car j’avais mal aux pieds./ I wouldn’t have walked further since my feet were sore.

 

Example 3 with Etre

Je serais allé au magasin mais il a plu./I would have gone to the store but it rained.