Understanding the Future Perfect Tense

What is the Future Perfect Tense?

The future perfect tense is used to describe an action that will be completed before a specified time in the future. It helps us talk about something that hasn’t happened yet, but will be finished before another future event or time. This tense is commonly structured using “will have” followed by the past participle of the main verb.

Forming the Future Perfect

• Affirmative: Subject + will have + past participle
• Example: By 2027, I will have finished my degree.
• Negative: Subject + will not (won’t) have + past participle
• Example: They won’t have arrived by midnight.
• Question: Will + subject + have + past participle?
• Example: Will she have left by the time we get there?

When Do We Use the Future Perfect?

• To show that an action will be finished before a certain time in the future:
• By next summer, they will have moved to their new house.
• To express probability about a past action from a future point of view:
• He will have reached London by now.

Time expressions often used with the future perfect include: by, by the time, before, in (with a time period), and when.

Exercise: Practice the Future Perfect

1. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in brackets, using the future perfect tense.
2. By this time next year, Sarah ___________ (complete) her training.
3. We ___________ (not/finish) the project by the deadline if we don’t start now.
4. ___________ you ___________ (write) your report by Monday?
5. In two weeks, they ___________ (move) to their new flat.
6. By 18:00, I ___________ (cook) dinner for everyone.
7. Write your own sentence using the future perfect tense about something you will have achieved by the end of this year.

Answers

1. will have completed
2. will not have finished
3. Will you have written
4. will have moved
5. will have cooked