Compound future & conditional: speculation and allegation

What it is

Two compound forms built with ter look at events from a distance:

• futuro do presente composto — terá feito: something will be complete before a future point (Até sexta, já terei terminado). In formal Portuguese it can also be a guess about the past: Onde ele terá deixado a chave? (Where can he have left the key?)
• futuro do pretérito composto — teria feito: the result of an unreal past (pt-g-076) and, in the news, a claim nobody has confirmed: Segundo a polícia, o suspeito teria fugido (the suspect allegedly fled).

The simple conditional does the same job for the present: O deputado estaria envolvido no esquema (is allegedly involved).

How to form it

Future or conditional of ter + the invariable participle:

Pronouns behave as with any compound tense: Quando você voltar, eu já terei me mudado.

When to use it

Finished before a future point

Use terá feito with a deadline or a later event, often with até, quando or já:

• Até o fim do ano, a empresa terá contratado cem pessoas.
• Em 2030, a cidade já terá inaugurado a nova linha de metrô.

In conversation Brazilians prefer vai ter + participle: Quando você chegar, eu já vou ter saído.

Guessing about the past

Terá sido um erro do sistema? sounds formal or literary. Speech has three everyday tools: será que + indicative (Será que ele esqueceu?), deve ter + participle for "must have" (Ele deve ter esquecido) and pode ter + participle for "may have" (Ele pode ter perdido o ônibus).

Allegations in the news

Reporters use the conditional to pass on what someone claims, without vouching for it:

• O prefeito teria recebido propina de uma construtora. (allegedly received)
• Segundo testemunhas, o motorista teria avançado o sinal. (allegedly ran the red light)
• O cantor estaria namorando uma atriz. (is said to be dating)

Look for the usual companions: segundo, de acordo com, conforme, supostamente, suposto (o suposto autor do crime). A sentence with teria reports a claim, not a fact. Read it as "allegedly".

Contrasts and traps

• Unreal or alleged? Inside a conditional sentence teria feito is unreal (Se tivesse chovido, teriam cancelado). In a news report it is an allegation, and it may well be true.
• terá vs teria: terá feito = will have done (or, formally, may have done); teria feito = would have done or allegedly did.
• deve ter vs deveria ter: Ele deve ter esquecido = he must have forgotten; Ele deveria ter avisado = he should have warned us.
• Headlines drop the conditional: Polícia investiga golpe states a fact; Golpe teria lesado 200 pessoas hedges the number.

If you speak Spanish

Habrá hecho → terá feito, habría hecho → teria feito, always with ter: haverá feito sounds archaic. The press conditional exists in Spanish too (el sospechoso habría huido), so the meaning transfers; Brazilian news just uses it far more. The real trap is conversation: Spanish uses the simple future for guesses (¿Dónde estará?, Serán las diez, Habrá salido). In Brazil say Onde será que ele está?, Devem ser umas dez horas, Ele deve ter saído.