What is Future Perfect Tense and How to Use It?

by | Apr 14, 2024 | Verb Tenses

Future Perfect Tense explained with practical examples

What is future perfect tense and how to use this tense properly in English?

The future perfect tense is a verb tense that allows us to describe actions that will be completed in the future before a certain point. The future perfect tense is a verb tense in which we use “will have” with the past participle form of the verb.

In this article, you will learn the future perfect tense, how to use it properly, when and when not, and the structural formula of future tense in affirmative, negative, and question sentences. Let’s read more to clarify the concept of the future perfect tense.

What is Future Perfect Tense?

The future perfect tense is a verb tense used to describe an action that will be completed before a specific thing occurs. For instance, the train will arrive at 10 am. I will have reached the train station before that time.

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Examples:

  • He will have finished his work.
  • He will have played well.
  • They will have watched the movie.
  • They will have slept early.

Examples:

  • He will have been eating food.
  • He will have been finishing his work.
  • She will have been teaching kids.
  • She will have been sleeping early.
  • They will have been watching the movie.
  • We shall have been staying at home.
  • I shall have been completing the project.

How to Make Future Perfect Tense

We use will have/shall have with past participle form to make sentences in the future perfect tense.

The formula of the Future Perfect Tense

Subject + will/shall have + Past participle

Positive Sentences of Future Perfect Tense

In positive sentences of the future perfect tense, we will use the subject followed by will have and then the third form of the verb, also called the past particle. 

Let’s see some examples to clarify this concept.

Examples:

  • He will have eaten food.
  • He will have gone.
  • He will have applied for a job.
  • She will have graduated.
  • She will have published her article

Negative Sentences of Future Perfect Tense

The negative sentences of future perfect tense consist of “will not have” instead of “will have.” The rest of the sentence remains the same. It means that we use the subject followed by will not have and then the past particle form of the verb. If you have an object, that will come at the end of the sentence. Let’s see some examples!

Examples:

  • He will not have worked hard to pass the exam.
  • He will not have informed them about their letter.
  • He will not have cooked food for the guests.
  • She will not have invited guests for dinner.
  • They will not have worked in the store.

Question Sentences of Future Perfect Tense

To ask questions in the future perfect tense, use Will at the start of the sentence, then subject followed by the rest of the sentence. For example,

  • Will you have gone to the store?

If you use question words like what, when, why, where, and how, then use them at the very beginning of the sentence. For example;

  • What will they have done?
  • Why will you leave for vacation before 5 p.m.?

Let’s look at more examples of future perfect tense to clarify the concept.

Examples:

  • Will you have gone to work before noon?
  • What will you have eaten before coming to school?
  • When will she have returned from work?

Verb Conjugation in Future Perfect Tense

Base Verb
eat
go
apply
Positive
will have eaten
will have gone
will have applied
Positive
will not have eaten
will not have gone
will not have applied

Sentence Construction in Future Perfect Tense

Positive
He will have eaten food.
He will have gone.
He will have applied for a job.
Negative
He will not have eaten food.
He will not have gone.
He will not have applied for a job.
Question
Will he have eaten food?
Will he have gone?
Will he have applied for a job?

When to use the future perfect tense?

Future perfect tense helps us to talk about the actions that will complete before a particular action or thing happens. 

  • He will have left the park before the parade ends.
  • He will have cooked a turkey before the parade starts.
  • He will have got ready clothes before the school bus arrives.
  • At 7′ O clock, we will have gone to bed.

The most important thing that you need to remember while using future perfect tense is that there must be a deadline in the sentence. if there no deadline, then we simply use future simple tense instead of future perfect tense. 

Correct Use of Future Perfect Tense

Correct
He will leave for work.
He will eat his dinner.
He will come to see us.
Incorrect
He will have left for work.
He will have eaten his dinner.
He will have come to see.
  • Correct – Linda will leave.
  • Incorrect – Linda will have left.
  • He will leave for work.
  • He will have left for work.
  • He will eat his dinner.
  • He will have eaten his dinner.
  • He will come to see us.
  • He will have come to see us.

Explanation

The deadline can be very specific (eight o’clock) or it can be vague (next week). It can even depend on when something else happens (after the parade ends). It just has to be some time in the future.

When not to Use Future Perfect Tense

The future perfect tense is not used when the action is not completed in the future.

  • He will read the book. [correct]
  • He will have read the book. [Incorrect]

There must be a specific time for the action to be completed.

  • He will have read the book before noon.
  • He will have read the book before the class starts.
  • He will have read the book once the school opens.
  • He will have read the book before next week.
  • He will have read the book in three days.

Difference Between Future Simple and Future Perfect 

Simple future tense talks about an action that will occur or happen in the future. For instance,

  • She will cook food.
  • He will go to school.
  • We will play a soccer.
  • They will help us.
  • It will work.

In all these sentences, we don’t know when the action will be completed. These sentences simply tells us an action will occur in the future. We do not know whether the action will be completed or not. However, we do know that it will happen in the future.

On the other hand, when we use future perfect tense, we know that an action will complete before a certain event occurs. For instance, Before noon, we will have returned to work.

In this example, we will return to work before noon starts.

If we say that, we will return to work. It does not show when we will return. the limit of the time is indefinite. It could be today, tomorrow, next year or after many years. We simply do not know when we will return exactly.

Future Simple Vs Future Perfect

Future Simple
He will leave for work.
He will eat his dinner.
He will come to see us.
Future Perfect Tense
He will have left for work before 7 o'clock.
He will have eaten his dinner before leaving.
He will have come to see us at noon.

Phrases Used with Future Perfect Tense

As soon as:

  • The passengers will have gathered at the platform as soon as the train arrives.
  • As soon as
  • He will have finished his work as soon as the

As long as:

  • As long as you work hard, you will have passed the exam.
  • He will have to stay with us as long as you take care of him. 
  • He will have to finish his project as long as you provide the material.

Before

  • Before graduating, I will have secured a position in the company.
  • Before midnight, I will have completed the project.
  • Before dawn, we will have arrived at the school. 

    At midnight

    • We will have slept at midnight.
    • They will have to submit their assignment by midnight.
    • She will have slept before midnight.
    • He will have come home before midnight.

    Examples of Future Perfect Tense 

    Let’s take a look at more sentence examples of future perfect tense in English.

    • He will have helped the poor.
    • He will have passed the examination.
    • He will have participated in the competition.
    • He will have closed his shop.
    • The store will have closed its door to the public.
    • He will not have eaten dinner.
    • She will have left for Turkey.
    • Will they have gone to vacation?
    • You will have watched TV.
    • I will have met her.

    Conclusion

    The future perfect tense is used when an action will complete in the future before a specific time. The formula for making future perfect tense is simple. You have to add will have in the middle of the subject and the past participle form of the ver. to make a negative sentence, add not in between will and have. to ask questions in the future perfect tense, we use will at the beginning of the sentence. If you are using WH questions, then WH words will come first in the sentence structure. 

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is future perfect Tense?

    Future perfect tense is a verb tense that tells about things or actions that will be completed in the future before another event happens.

    What is the formula for future perfect tense?

    The formula of future perfect tense is:

    Subject + will/shall have + past participle.

    What is the difference between future perfect and future simples tenses?

    Simple future talks about actions or things that will happen in the future. However, future perfect tense describes actions that will be completed in the future before another event or action occurs.

    I hope this article helped you learn future perfect tense in English. If you liked it, please share it and subscribe to our newsletter for updates, language learning tips, and the latest blog posts. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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