The Future Perfect Tense
Future Perfect
A tense used to describe an action that will be completed before a specific point in the future.
The Future Perfect tense is used to look back from a point in the future to an action that will already be completed before that time. It connects a future outcome to a specific deadline or subsequent event. It is almost always accompanied by time expressions using by (e.g., by next year, by the time you arrive).
To form the Future Perfect, use the auxiliary phrase will have followed by the past participle (third form) of the main verb. For negations, place "not" between will and have, forming will not have (or won't have). Questions are formed by placing will before the subject (e.g., Will you have finished?). The structure is identical for all subjects.
A common mistake is using the simple future tense instead of the Future Perfect when a deadline is present (e.g., saying I will finish it by 5 PM instead of I will have finished it by 5 PM). Another error is using the future tense after by the time, which is a subordinating time conjunction that requires the Simple Present (e.g., saying by the time you will arrive instead of by the time you arrive).
Examples
I will have finished my homework by eight o'clock.
I will have finished my homework by eight o'clock.
They will have built the new bridge by next summer.
They will have built the new bridge by next summer.
Will you have read this book by tomorrow morning?
Will you have read this book by tomorrow morning?
By the time she arrives, we will have prepared dinner.
By the time she arrives, we will have prepared dinner.
I won't have completed the project before the meeting.
I won't have completed the project before the meeting.
Related terms
Learn English in context — free dictionary and practice.