Future Perfect simple in English
Hi, in today’s lesson we will be learning
about the future perfect simple in English. This is when you say you will have done something
or won’t have done something. For example, by the end of this lesson, you will have understood
how to use the future perfect simple in English.
So how do we form the Future perfect simple in English?
it's will have + past participle
and it doesn’t matter if the subject of your sentence is singular or plural.
The form is always the same.
By the end of this lesson, you will have understood the future perfect simple in English.
So here, we have will have understood.
In the negative, it is simply will not often abbreviated to won’t have plus the past participle.
For example, "The film won’t already have started by the time we get to the cinema."
In questions the form is
will + [subject] + have + [past participle]:
So for example, "Will you have eaten lunch already when we arrive?"
You can also use shall instead of will only with I and we. Shall is more formal than will.
For example: I/we shall have eaten lunch before you arrive.
Or
I/we shan’t have eaten lunch before you arrive.
Shall I, shall we and shan’t I, shan’t we in future perfect questions are rare.
So, when do we use the future perfect simple?
Well, the future perfect is used for actions that will be completed before some other point
in the future. We use the future perfect form when we look back to the past from a point
in the future. We usually use a time phrase, for example by tomorrow, for three years:
For example: at the beginning of this class I said by the end of the lesson, you will
have understood how to use the future perfect simple in English.
If we look at this on a timeline:
so imagine that you are at the end of this lesson and this is a point in the future and
we are looking back to the past from this point, so some time before the end of the lesson you will have
understood how to use the future perfect simple in English.
or
Do you think she’ll have seen the dentist by five o’clock? So again on a timeline, imagine
it is 5 o'clock and you're looking back to the past and she has already seen the dentist.
The future perfect tense is for talking about an action that will be completed between now
and some point in the future. Imagine, your friend Doug asks you to take care of his pet
hamster while he goes on holiday. He wants you to come over today at noon so he can show
you what to do. But unfortunately, you’re busy this afternoon,
so you ask Doug if you can come at six o’clock
tonight instead.
“No, that won’t work! At six o’clock I will have already left, ” he says.
So, what does the future perfect tell us here? It tells us that Doug is going to leave for
his holiday some time after right now, but before a certain point in the future
here six o’clock tonight.
He probably shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to find
a hamster sitter.
On a timeline, it would look like this. So imagine yourself at six o’clock and you're looking
back from there sometime before six o’clock you leave.
Sometimes, you can use the future perfect tense and the simple future tense interchangeably.
In these two sentences, there is no real difference in meaning because the word "before" makes the
sequence of events clear:
Doug will leave before you get there. Or
Doug will have left before you get there.
But without prepositions such as before that make the sequence of events
clear, you need to use the future perfect to show which action happened first.
At six o’clock Doug will leave. (This means that Doug will wait until 6 o’clock to leave.)
At six o’clock Doug will have left. (This means Doug will leave before 6 o’clock.)
The future perfect tense is only used for actions that will be complete before a specified point
in the future. In other words, the action you’re talking about must have a deadline.
If you don’t mention a deadline, use the simple future instead.
For example: Doug will leave. Here the future simple.
Or Doug will have left before 6 o'clock.
The deadline can be very specific like six o’clock or it can be vague like next month.
Or it can even depend on something else happening, for example, after the film starts.
It just has to be some time in the future.
The prepositional phrases that often go with the future perfect are:
By this time next week, Doug will have left for his holiday.
Three days from now, we will have finished our project.
At midnight, the party will have ended.
Will you have eaten already by six o'clock?
Bob will not have arrived by the time the film is over.
When I travel to France, I will have been to five countries.
My sister will have cleaned her bedroom before the party.
As soon as someone buys this book, I will have made 5 pounds.
OK, finally let's compare 3 sentences using perfect forms.
Firstly, Neil and Sue have been married for 10 years.
This is the present perfect. They got married in the past and are still married.
Next year they will have been married for 11 years.
This is, of course, the future perfect simple. We are looking forward to the future, in this case next
year and are saying that at that time they will have been married for eleven years.
And finally when their son was born, they had been married for three years.
This is the past perfect. This is used for an earlier past. So they married first, then
they had their son.
Ok, so that’s it for now,
I hope you feel more confident using the future perfect simple in English.
If you want more on the future perfect simple, for example, exercises and personal feedback please go
to my Patreon page where you can find much more!
The link's down below in the comment section.
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Future Perfect simple in English