How to use the perfect future tense in English

If you can successfully use the simple future forms in English, it’s time to move your skills to the next level. Understanding and using the perfect future tense will really improve your language skills. 

In this article, we will learn what the perfect future tense is, how to form it and use it. 

• What is the perfect future tense? 
• How to use the perfect future tense
• Perfect future tense examples

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What is the future perfect tense? 

English has a few different ways to talk about future events or actions. The perfect future tense or the future perfect tense is used to connect a future action to another action that is even further in the future. In other words, one future action will be completed before the other future action. 

• They will have arrived by dinnertime. 

• By the time I graduate from college I will have moved 8 times. 

• In December, we will have lived in Mexico for 3 years. 

Sometimes it helps to look at the actions or events on a timeline. 

Example	Time of speaking	1st future action	2nd future action
They will have arrived by dinnertime.	Speaking in the moment, at 10:00 AM.	They will have arrived (at 3:00 PM).	By dinnertime (at 7:00 PM).
By the time I graduate from college, I will have moved 8 times.	Speaking in the moment, while still going to college	I will have moved 8 times.	By the time I graduate from college.
In December, we will have lived in Mexico for 3 years.	Speaking in the moment, for example in July	We will have lived in Mexico for 3 years.	In December.

How to use the perfect future tense 

Let’s review how to construct the perfect future tense. The perfect future always includes will, the auxiliary or helping verb have and the past participle of your main verb. The future perfect verb must include have + past participle. The past participle is the main verb. 

Structure: Subject + will + have + past participle. For example: They (subject) will have cooked (past participle). 

The past participle of a regular verb is formed by adding -ed to the end of the infinitive. 

Examples of regular verbs in past participle form.

Cook + ed = cooked

Talk + ed = talked

Jump + ed = jumped

There are many irregular verbs in English. The past participle version of irregular verbs don’t  follow the rule above. If you spend time studying the irregular verbs you will learn and improve your English. 

Examples of irregular past participle verbs. 

Study = studied

Eat = eaten

Perfect future tense examples

Let’s look at some examples of the perfect future. The following table uses the regular verb ‘work’ for each subject.

Subject	Example Sentence
I	I will have worked.
You, singular	You will have worked.
He / She / It	He will have worked.  She will have worked.  It will have worked.
We	We will have worked.
You, plural	You will have worked.
They	They will have worked.

In both spoken and written English contractions are very common. 

Example Sentence	Contraction
I will have worked.	I’ll have worked.
You will have worked.	You’ll have worked
He will have worked.	He’ll have worked.
She will have worked.	She’ll have worked.
It will have worked.	It’ll have worked.
We will have worked.	We’ll have worked.
You will have worked.	You’ll have worked.
They will have worked.	They’ll have worked.

We can also use the perfect future in negative sentences. We just need to add the word not. Here is the structure. 

Subject + will + not + have + past participle. 

• I will not have worked. 
• You will not have worked. 
• He will not have worked. 
• She will not have worked. 
• It will not have worked. 
• You will not have worked. 
• We will not have worked. 
• They will not have worked. 

It is common to use a time expression. 

• By 2030 the kids will have finished school. 

• Will you have eaten by the time I arrive? 

• The movie will have finished by 10:00 PM. 

Here are a few more example sentences. 

• Let’s meet at 7:00 PM. I will have finished work by then. 

• We will have fixed the problem by Monday. 

• Will you have left when I arrive? 

• What will you have completed by the end of the day? 

Watch these 2 clips for examples of the perfect future. 

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By the end of this article, you will have learned the perfect future tense

The perfect future tense will help you expand your English language skills. Learning this tense will allow you to speak English in a more natural and complex way. Surely, you will have learned a lot by the end of this article! 

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