A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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12/8/2017
3. Future and Future Perfect Tenses
Werden and its present tense forms can also be used with an infinitive of a verb to
form the future tense in German. For example:
Dieses Auto wird sicher schneller fahren.
This car will surely go faster.
Sie weiß nicht, ob sie heute abend kommen werden.
She doesn’t know if they will come this evening.
Note: The dependent infinitive (fahren and kommen in these examples) stands in
final position.
Future perfect tense is not used frequently but it is wise to be aware of it. Examples
of it are:
Unser Direktor wird eine Reise um die Welt gemacht haben.
Our director will have travelled around the world.
Wir werden über 15.000 km geflogen sein.
We will have flown over 15,000 kilometers.
Note: The auxiliary verb (haben or sein) that accompanies the dependent infinitive
appears after the past participle. To summarize: future perfect is composed of a
present tense form of werden plus a past participle and its auxiliary:
werden + past participle + haben or sein
Unit: 8: Werden, relative clauses
4. Werden in Probability Statements
The verb werden can furthermore be used with an infinitive and usually the word
wohl, but sometimes doch or schon, to express probability. As you will see, the
examples look exactly like future tense and future perfect statements. The
difference is the addition of wohl, doch, or schon, which can change the meaning
dramatically.