Latin/Future Perfect Tense
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Last lesson covered pluperfect verbs. This lesson will complete our survey of the three perfect tenses of the indicative active, with the future perfect tense. Though it’s not used frequently in English, it is used a little more frequently in Latin. The endings
- –erō, -eris, -erit, -erimus, -eritis, -erint
are added to the perfect stem (from the 3rd principal part of regular verbs). You’ll notice the 3rd person plural, -erint, is the only one that is different from the conjugation of sum in the regular future tense (and that is probably because –erunt is already used as an ending for the perfect tense).
For deponent verbs, take the perfect participle, which is the third and final principal part for deponent verbs, and add the future tense of sum as a helping verb.
Exempli gratia, in the 3rd person plural:
- (regular verb) vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātus
- vocaverint = they will have called
- vocaverint = they will have called
- (deponent verb) loquor, loquī, locūtus sum
- locūtī erunt = they will have spoken
In practice, Latin sometimes uses future perfect tense where we would normally use the regular future tense. It emphasizes that at some point in the future, the action will have happened. It’s a great way of looking at a future task that you are dreading and visualizing it as complete. The Romans were very practical this way, and probably spent less time worrying and more time acting.
New Vocabulary
edit| Latin | English | Audio (Classical) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| fīnis, fīnis, fīnium (gender f., m. in pl) | end, limit, boundary, death; pl. territory, country |
New Sentences
edit| Latin | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| In fīne vīcerint. | In the end they will have won. | |
| Exercitus in fīnes hostium trānsīverit. | The army will have crossed (gone across) into the territory of the enemy. | |
| Medicum vocāverimus. | We will have called the doctor. | |
| Lūcia satis temporis habuerit. | Lucia will have had enough time. | |
| Discipulī in scholā mānserint. | The students will have remained in school. | |
| Optimus(a) fueris. | You will have been the best. | |
| Potuerint natāre. | They will have been able to swim. | |
| Quid potuerit facere? | What will he have been able to do? | |
| Caupōnam invēnerō. | I will have found the restaurant. | |
| Tē vīderimus. | We will have seen you. | |
| Quid Māter dīxerit? | What will Mother have said? | |
| Mūs pōculum lactis voluerit. | The mouse will have wanted a cup of milk. | |
| Paula prīmum abīverit. | Paula will have gone away first. | |
| Quis dentifricium cēperit (sustulerit)? | Who will have taken the toothpaste? | |
| Dē Marcō cōgitāverint. | They will have thought about Marcus. | |
| Pecūniam magistrae dederimus. | We will have given the money to the teacher. | |
| Totum diem labōrāverō. | I will have worked all day. | |
| Totam hebdomadem exspectāverint. | They will have waited all week. | |
| Tē crās vidēbō, ubī domum vēnerō. | I will see you tomorrow, when I (will have) come home. | |
| In fīne Mārcus rēx factus erit. | In the end Marcus will have become king. | |
| Dē quō locūtī erunt? | What will they have talked about? | |
| Nimis locūtī erimus. | We will have talked too much. | |
| Iterum conāta erit. | She will have tried again. | |
| Mortuus (mortua) erō. | I will have died (I will be dead). | Because mortuus, a, um is the perfect participle of morior but also the adjective meaning “dead,” both translations are possible. |
| īnfāns nātus erit. | The baby will have been born. | |
| Multī canēs nōs secūtī erunt. | Many dogs will have followed us. | |
| Here are some sentences from Latin literature using the future perfect | ||
| Desilite, commilitones, nisi vultis aquilam hostibus prodere. Ego certe meum rei publicae atque imperatori officium praestitero. | Jump down, comrades, unless you wish to give up the eagle to the enemy. I shall certainly have performed my duty to the republic and the commander. | Julius Caesar, recounting the words of a brave signifer leading the way in a difficult aquatic landing. |
| Qui Antonium oppresserit, is hoc bellum confecerit. | He who will have crushed Antonius will have finished this war. | Cicero |
| Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. | Even as we speak, cruel time will have fled: seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future. | Horace |
Practice
edit| Practice and learn the words and phrases in this lesson | |
|---|---|
| Step one | First learn the words using this lesson: |
| Step two | Next try learning and writing the sentencing using this: |
| Note that the Memrise stage covers the content for all lessons in each stage. If you are skipping previous stages you may need to manually "ignore" the words in previous levels (use the 'select all' function) | |
We hope you will have enjoyed this lesson! As always, if there are corrections or questions, feel free to leave a comment on the discuss page. Grātiās et valēte!