1. What is the future perfect tense?
The future perfect tense is used for:
- Events that haven’t happened yet, but will have been finished by a future time.
- Saying how long something will have happened for by a future time.
2. How to Make The Future Perfect Tense
The future perfect tense can be made in two different ways:
- subject + will + have + perfect participle (p.p.)
- subject + (be) going to + have + p.p.
*p.p. = done, gone, seen, eaten etc.
| By this time next year, I will have graduated. | By the time you get this message, I will have gone. |
| He will have become a millionaire before he retires. | By this time tomorrow I am going to have finished making those clothes. |
| She will have finished her exams by next Tuesday. | By the time I’m 50 he’s going to have turned 70. |
| I will have come back from Japan before you get married. | They‘re going to have sold their boat by the end of the month. |
3. Future tense for finished by a future time
The future perfect tense can describe an action that is not currently finished, but will be finished by a future time.
To make this, the structure is:
- subject + future perfect tense + future time
The future time can be place at the start or at the end.
| Subject | Will / (be) going to | Have | P.p. | Future time | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | will | have | finished | by the time you get home | I will have finished dinner by the time you get home. |
| He | is going to | have | moved | by next Monday | He says he is going to have moved house by next Monday. |
4. Future perfect tense for duration
The future perfect tense sentence can describe how long an action will have happened by a future time.
To make this, the structure is:
- subject + future perfect + duration + future time
The future time can be place at the start or at the end.
| Subject | Will / (be) going to | Have | P.p. | Duration | Future time | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| They | will | have | been | for 20 years | this time next year | They will have been married for 20 years by this time next year. |
| She | is going to | have | lived | for six months | tomorrow | She is going to have lived here for six months tomorrow. |
| By the time I leave China, I will have lived there for 6 weeks. | They will have travelled for 3 years by the time they get to New Zealand. |
| He is only going to have studied English for 3 weeks by the time he takes the exam. | By the end of the summer we are going to have been friends for 3 months. |
5. Exercises
1. Finish these sentences:
(i) By the time I retire I will have…
(ii) I will have gone to bed by (what time)
(iii) By the time I die I will have…
2. Answer these questions:
(i) What would you like to have done by the end of the week?
(ii) What would you like to have done by the end of this year?
(ii) What would you like to have done by the age of 80?