Future Perfect Continuous Tense: How to Use in English

What is the future perfect continuous tense in English?

Future perfect continuous tense is a verb tense that talks about the actions or things that will occur in the future and will continue up until a certain time, and finish in the future. The future perfect continuous tense is also called the future perfect progressive tense.

In this article, you will learn the future perfect continuous tense, when to use it, and how to form sentences.

What is Future Perfect Continuous Tense?

Future perfect continuous tense is a verb tense that describes an action that will start in the future, continue until a certain point, and then end in the future. Consider the following examples of future perfect continuous tense:

Examples:

• He will have been playing for one year.
• She will have been studying all day long.
• They will have working for 10 years.

Nonaction verbs in Future perfect Continuous

Certain non-action words, such as be, seem, want, and know, do not go with the present perfect continuous. Instead of using the present perfect continuous tense, we use the present perfect tense. The construction of the sentence will be as follows:

Subject +will have + past participle.

See the following examples;

• I will have known you for two weeks now.
• They will have read the book next Friday.
• Next month, I will have submitted my assignment.

When to Use Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The future perfect continuous tense is used when an activity begins in the past, present, or in the future, and is expected to continue in the future. let read the following two examples;

• He will be sleeping. {Incorrect}
• He will have been sleeping. {correct}

How to Make Future Perfect Continuous 

To make future perfect continuous tense, we use the auxiliary verb will have been with the ing form of the verb. The structural formula of future perfect continuous tense is:

Subject + will have been + Present Participle

• He will have been teaching.
• They will have been working.
• We have been playing.

If there is an object in the sentence, then it will come at the end of the sentence, and the sentence structure will look like this:

Subject + will have been + ing- verb+ Object

Examples:

• He will have been traveling to Disney for four years.
• They will have been working on the project for 10 years.
• She will have been staying in this neighborhood for 5 years.

Positive Sentences of Future Perfect Continuous Tense

After the subject, we use will or shall have been and then base verb with ing.

If we are using subject, verb, and object in the sentence, then will have/shall have been coming after the subject and before the base verb +ing.

The positive sentences of future perfect continuous are simple and easy to make. In the positive sentence, we use will have been as an auxiliary verb.

Examples:

• She will have been working at the store.
• He will have been studying hard.
• They will have been exercising every day.
• You will have been teaching at school.

Negative Sentences 

Simply add not with will l and the rest of the sentence structure is same. For instance, First we use subject, then will not have been or shall not have been, then first form of verb + ing, then we use object.

The negative sentences consist of subject + will not have been + verb(I)+ing. We add not after will and before have been. The rest of the sentence structure is similar to a positive sentence. The only difference is adding not after will and before have been.

Examples:

• I shall not have been sleeping in the day time.
• I shall not have been jogging.
• I shall not have been watching tv.
• I shall not have been staying longer.

You can also use the contraction form of “will not have been” as “won’t have been” in the sentence. The above mentioned sentences can also be written as;

• I won’t have been sleeping in the daytime.
• I won’t have been jogging.
• I won’t have been watching tv.
• I won’tt have been staying longer.

Question 

When we ask questions using future perfect continuous tense, we use “Will” at the beginning of the sentence, and the sentence structure for question sentences will look like this:

Will + Subject + have been + ing-verb.

Examples:

• Will he have been working?
• Will he have been going?
• Will she have been cooking food?

Sentence Construction of Future Perfect Continuous

Examples of Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Take a look at the following examples of future perfect continuous tense to learn more in detail about how it is used to make sentences in English.

• He has been working for three years.
• She has been writing for 20 years.
• They will have been playing for 10 years. 
• She will have been studying for 2 more years. 
• They will not have been visiting us for three months. 

Conclusion

The future perfect continuous tense is the verb tense used to describe things or actions that will start in the future, continue until a specific point, and then end in the future. It is also known as the future progressive tense. We use the auxiliary verb will/shall have been + ing-verb.

Avoid using nonaction verbs in future perfect continuous tense because their use creates confusion and does not make sense. Instead, you can use the present perfect tense to explain things better. If a specific time is mentioned in the sentence, then simply use the present perfect tense.

Future Perfect Continous Tense FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked question about future perfect tense in English.

What is future perfect continuous tense in English?

The future perfect continuous, also sometimes called the future perfect progressive, is a verb tense that describe actions that will continue up until a point in the future. The future perfect continuous consists of will+have + been+ the verb’s present participle (verb root +ing).

When to use future perfect continuous tense in English?

If an action starts in the future, continues up until a certain point, and then ends in the future, then use future perfect tense.

How can you form future perfect continuous tense in English?

The future perfect continue tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb will have been/shall have been + ing-verb. 

I hope this article helped you learn what the future perfect continuous tense is when to use this tense in English, and how to make sentences using the present perfect continuous tense. If you liked it, please share it and subscribe to our newsletter for more language-learning tips, grammar articles, and the latest blog posts.

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