Future Perfect Simple
The Future Perfect Simple is used to describe actions that will be completed before a certain future point. It is formed with 'will have' + past participle.
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Future Perfect Simple
The future perfect tense is only used in a few situations, but it's still good to know it. Here's how to make it.
The future perfect is made with the future simple of 'have' (will have) and the past participle. For regular past participles add 'ed' to the verb ('play' becomes 'played').
Here's the positive:
| Positive | Contracted Positive |
|---|---|
| I will have finished this book | I'll have finished this book |
| You will have studied the English tenses | You'll have studied the English tenses |
| He will have arrived | He'll have arrived |
| She will have cooked dinner | She'll have cooked dinner |
| It will have stopped raining | It'll have stopped raining |
| We will have met Julie | We'll have met Julie |
| They will have left Japan | They'll have left Japan |
Here's the negative:
| Negative | Contracted Negative |
|---|---|
| I will not have finished this book | I won't have finished this book |
| You will not have studied the English tenses | You won't have studied the English tenses |
| He will not have arrived | He won't have arrived |
| She will not have cooked dinner | She won't have cooked dinner |
| We will not have met Julie | We won't have met Julie |
| It will not have stopped raining | It won't have stopped raining |
| They will not have left Japan | They won't have left Japan |
Questions are also really, really easy. Just put 'will' in front of the subject:
| Yes/No Questions |
|---|
| will I have finished writing this book? |
| will you have studied all the English verb tenses? |
| will he have got married? |
| will she have graduated? |
| will it have got colder? |
| will we have met your boyfriend? |
| will they have left their jobs? |
As you can imagine, for 'wh' questions, we just put the question word before 'will':
| Wh Questions | |
|---|---|
| When will I have finished writing this book? | |
| Why will you have studied all the English verb tenses by tomorrow? | |
| Why will he have got married before June? | |
| When will she have been here three weeks? | |
| Why will it have got colder by May? | |
| How will we have met your boyfriend by tonight? | |
| When will they have left their jobs? |
When Should I Use The Future Perfect Simple Tense?
1. We use the future perfect to say 'how long' for an action that starts before and continues up to another action or time in the future. Usually we need 'for'. We can also use the future perfect continuous here so we often use the future perfect simple with stative verbs. If we use 'when', we usually need the present simple.
- When we get married, I'll have known Robert for four years.
- At 4 o'clock, I'll have been in this office for 24 hours.
2. Sometimes we could also use the present perfect in the same situation. But we like to use the future perfect to make the time an easy number.
- I've lived here for 11 months and three weeks. (This is correct, but the time is not an easy number.)
- On Tuesday, I will have lived here for one year. (A much easier number.)
3. We use the future perfect with a future time word, (and often with 'by') to talk about an action that will finish before a certain time in the future, but we don't know exactly when.
- By 10 o'clock, I will have finished my homework. (= I will finish my homework some time before 10, but we don't know exactly when.)
- By the time I'm sixty, I will have retired. (= I will retire sometime before I'm sixty. Maybe when I'm fifty-nine, maybe when I'm fifty-two.)