Introduction to Futur II

You already know Futur I — werden + infinitive — for talking about future plans and predictions. Futur II adds a second layer: it expresses an action that will be completed by a certain future point, or — and this is its most common use in everyday German — a confident assumption about something that has already happened. Think of it as the future perfect tense of German: "by then, it will have been done." Once you understand its two uses, you will also start to recognise it everywhere in formal German speech and writing.

Why Futur II Matters

It completes the German tense system: You have a past, a present, and a future — but Futur II covers the space between: actions that will be finished in relation to a future moment, or confident inferences about the recent past.
Its most common use is not the future at all: In spoken German, Futur II is used most often to make a confident assumption about the past — what must have happened, what has probably been done. Er wird das vergessen haben does not mean "he will have forgotten" in the future; it means "he has probably forgotten" right now.
It appears constantly in formal speech and writing: News reports, academic texts, and formal commentary use Futur II for epistemic reasoning — drawing confident conclusions from evidence. Recognising it is essential for reading at B2 level.
The formation follows a consistent pattern: werden + past participle + haben or sein (as an infinitive). Once this pattern is clear, the construction is straightforward.

Understanding Futur II

Formation

Futur II is formed with werden conjugated for the subject, followed by the past participle of the main verb, followed by haben or sein as an infinitive. The choice of haben or sein follows the same rules as the Perfekt:

Subject	werden (conjugated)	Past participle	haben / sein (infinitive)
ich	werde	gemacht	haben
du	wirst	gegangen	sein
er / sie / es	wird	geschlafen	haben
wir	werden	angekommen	sein
ihr	werdet	gelesen	haben
sie / Sie	werden	gefahren	sein

Formula: werden (position 2) + [rest of sentence] + past participle + haben/sein (at end)

Full Conjugation Examples

German	English (future perfect use)
Ich werde das gemacht haben.	I will have done that.
Du wirst gegangen sein.	You will have left.
Er wird geschlafen haben.	He will have slept.
Wir werden angekommen sein.	We will have arrived.
Sie werden das gelesen haben.	They will have read that.

Use 1 — Future Perfect: Completed by a Future Point

In this use, Futur II describes an action that will be finished before a certain moment in the future. It is often used with time expressions like bis dann, bis morgen, bis nächste Woche:

Example	English	Key time marker
Bis morgen werde ich den Bericht fertiggeschrieben haben.	By tomorrow I will have finished writing the report.	bis morgen
Bis nächstes Jahr werden sie das Haus gebaut haben.	By next year they will have built the house.	bis nächstes Jahr
Wenn du ankommst, werde ich schon gegessen haben.	When you arrive, I will have already eaten.	wenn...schon
In zwei Stunden werden wir angekommen sein.	In two hours we will have arrived.	in zwei Stunden

Use 2 — Confident Assumption About the Past (Most Common in Speech)

This is the use that surprises most learners — and the one that appears most in everyday German. Futur II expresses a confident inference about something that has already happened. The speaker is not describing the future; they are making a deduction about the past based on evidence or logic. Wohl frequently accompanies this use to signal the inferential nature:

Example	English equivalent	What it signals
Er wird das vergessen haben.	He has probably forgotten that.	Confident assumption — I think he forgot
Sie wird schon nach Hause gegangen sein.	She has probably already gone home.	Inference from current absence
Er wird wohl zu viel gearbeitet haben.	He has probably been working too much.	wohl reinforces the hedged certainty
Das wird ein Fehler gewesen sein.	That was probably a mistake.	Retrospective assessment
Du wirst das schon richtig gemacht haben.	You probably did that correctly.	Reassurance — confident past assumption

Futur II vs. Perfekt — When to Use Which for Past Assumptions

Both can express past actions, but Futur II adds the speaker's confident inference or epistemic stance — it is not just reporting, but reasoning:

Perfekt (neutral past report)	Futur II (confident inference about past)
Er hat das vergessen. — He forgot that. (fact)	Er wird das vergessen haben. — He has probably forgotten. (inference)
Sie ist nach Hause gegangen. — She went home. (fact)	Sie wird nach Hause gegangen sein. — She has probably gone home. (inference)
Er hat zu viel gearbeitet. — He worked too much. (fact)	Er wird zu viel gearbeitet haben. — He has probably been working too much. (inference)

Word Order in Subordinate Clauses

In subordinate clauses (after dass, weil, wenn, obwohl etc.), the word order changes. The conjugated werden moves to the end — after the past participle and haben/sein:

Main clause	Subordinate clause
Er wird es gemacht haben.	Ich glaube, dass er es gemacht haben wird.
Sie wird gegangen sein.	Ich denke, dass sie gegangen sein wird.
Wir werden angekommen sein.	Bis du anrufst, werden wir angekommen sein.

haben or sein — The Same Rule as Perfekt

The choice between haben and sein in Futur II follows exactly the same logic as in the Perfekt. Verbs of motion or change of state use sein; all others use haben:

Futur II with haben	Futur II with sein
Er wird geschlafen haben. (schlafen — haben verb)	Er wird eingeschlafen sein. (einschlafen — change of state → sein)
Ich werde das gelesen haben. (lesen — haben verb)	Ich werde angekommen sein. (ankommen — motion → sein)
Sie wird gearbeitet haben. (arbeiten — haben verb)	Sie wird gefahren sein. (fahren — motion → sein)

Step-by-Step Guide to Forming Futur II

Conjugate werden for the subject and place it in position 2.
Form the past participle of the main verb.
Choose haben or sein: motion/change of state → sein; all others → haben.
Place the past participle and haben/sein at the end of the clause.
Identify the use: future perfect (by a certain time, something will be done) or confident past assumption (I think this has probably happened).

Pro Tip: When you see wohl alongside Futur II, the sentence is almost certainly expressing a confident inference about the past — not predicting the future. Er wird wohl müde gewesen sein = he was probably tired. The wohl is the key signal.

Memory Pattern: Futur II = "future looking back." It looks forward to a point in time (or back at the past with confidence) and says: by then / probably, this action will be / has been completed. The double compound — past participle + haben/sein — is the visual signal of this completed-action perspective.

Key Examples

German	English	Note
Bis morgen werde ich den Bericht fertiggestellt haben.	By tomorrow I will have completed the report.	Future perfect — bis morgen marks the completion deadline
Er wird das vergessen haben.	He has probably forgotten that.	Confident past assumption — no future time marker
Wenn du ankommst, werde ich schon gegessen haben.	When you arrive, I will have already eaten.	Future perfect in wenn-clause — schon reinforces completion
Sie wird wohl nach Hause gegangen sein.	She has probably gone home.	Confident inference + wohl; sein because gehen = motion
In zwei Jahren werden sie das Projekt abgeschlossen haben.	In two years they will have finished the project.	Future perfect — in zwei Jahren marks the deadline
Das wird ein Missverständnis gewesen sein.	That was probably a misunderstanding.	Confident past inference — retrospective assessment
Du wirst schon das Richtige getan haben.	You probably did the right thing.	Reassuring confident inference about someone's past action
Ich glaube, dass sie schon abgefahren sein wird.	I think she will already have left.	Futur II in subordinate clause — wird at end
Bis Ende des Jahres werden wir 1000 Kunden gewonnen haben.	By the end of the year we will have gained 1000 customers.	Future perfect with specific deadline — business/formal register
Er wird wohl zu spät aufgestanden sein.	He probably got up too late.	sein because aufstehen = change of state; wohl reinforces inference

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Ich werde das fertig machen haben.
- Fix: The past participle must be used, not the infinitive. Futur II uses the past participle: Ich werde das fertig gemacht haben. Never use an infinitive where the past participle is required.
Mistake 2: Er wird nach Hause gegangen haben.
- Fix: Gehen is a motion verb — it uses sein in Perfekt, and therefore also in Futur II: Er wird nach Hause gegangen sein. The haben/sein rule from Perfekt applies identically to Futur II.
Mistake 3: Ich denke, dass er wird das gemacht haben.
- Fix: In a subordinate clause, werden moves to the end — after the past participle and haben/sein: Ich denke, dass er das gemacht haben wird.
Mistake 4: Sie wird wahrscheinlich das vergessen.
- Fix: For a confident inference about the past, use Futur II with the past participle: Sie wird das wahrscheinlich vergessen haben. Using Futur I (vergessen without a participle) only expresses a future prediction, not a past inference.
Nuance 1: Futur II is relatively rare in casual spoken German.
- Fix: In everyday conversation, Germans often replace Futur II inferences with simpler constructions: Er hat das wahrscheinlich vergessen (Perfekt + wahrscheinlich) instead of Er wird das vergessen haben. Futur II for past assumptions is more common in formal speech, writing, and news. Both are correct.

Cultural Insights

Futur II in German journalism and commentary: News reporters and commentators use Futur II constantly when drawing conclusions from incomplete information: Die Verhandlungen werden sich als schwieriger erwiesen haben als erwartet (The negotiations will have proved more difficult than expected). This epistemic use — expressing a confident inference — is a hallmark of careful, analytical German prose and is worth recognising even if you produce it rarely.
Bis + Futur II in formal planning: In business, academic, and project management contexts, Futur II with bis is the standard way to express completion deadlines: Bis Ende des Quartals werden alle Berichte eingereicht worden sein (By the end of the quarter all reports will have been submitted). This formal use is frequent in professional German and worth having in your active repertoire at B2 level.

Practice Scenarios

Making confident inferences: Reasoning about what has probably happened, e.g., Er antwortet nicht — er wird wohl eingeschlafen sein. (He is not answering — he has probably fallen asleep.)
- Er/Sie wird wohl... haben/sein. (He/She has probably...)
- Das wird ein Fehler gewesen sein. (That was probably a mistake.)
- Du wirst schon das Richtige getan haben. (You probably did the right thing.)
Setting deadlines: Expressing what will be completed by a future point, e.g., Bis Freitag werde ich alle E-Mails beantwortet haben. (By Friday I will have answered all emails.)
- Bis morgen werde ich... haben. (By tomorrow I will have...)
- In einer Woche werden wir... sein. (In a week we will have...)
- Wenn du zurückkommst, werde ich... haben. (When you return, I will have...)
Reassuring someone: Using Futur II to express confidence about someone's past actions, e.g., Mach dir keine Sorgen — du wirst alles richtig gemacht haben. (Don't worry — you probably did everything right.)
- Du wirst das gut gemacht haben. (You probably did that well.)
- Das wird schon gut gegangen sein. (That probably went well.)

Follow-Up Questions

How is Futur II formed?
- Example Answer: Werden conjugated for the subject, placed in position 2, followed by the past participle of the main verb, followed by haben or sein as an infinitive at the end. Ich werde das gemacht haben. The haben/sein choice follows the same rule as in the Perfekt.
What are the two main uses of Futur II?
- Example Answer: First, future perfect — an action that will be completed by a specific future point, often with bis or wenn: Bis morgen werde ich fertig sein. Second, confident past inference — a deduction about something that has probably already happened: Er wird das vergessen haben means he has probably forgotten, not that he will forget in the future.
How do you choose between haben and sein in Futur II?
- Example Answer: Exactly the same rule as in Perfekt. Motion verbs and change of state verbs use sein: gegangen sein, angekommen sein, eingeschlafen sein. All other verbs use haben: gemacht haben, gelesen haben, geschlafen haben.

Conclusion

Futur II completes your understanding of German tense by adding the perspective of completion — either completion before a future moment, or a confident inference about past completion. The formation is consistent: werden + past participle + haben/sein. The two uses are distinct but both common: future perfect for deadlines and sequences, confident past assumption for reasoning and inference. Once recognised, Futur II will appear everywhere in formal German — and producing it correctly at B2 level marks a genuine step toward natural, educated German.

Practice Makes Perfect

The exercises test both formation and meaning — pay close attention to the haben/sein choice and to the word order in subordinate clauses, as these are the two points where errors are most frequent.