The future perfect is
a verb form
or construction used to describe an event that is expected or planned to happen
before a time of reference in the future

OR

The future perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will
be completed before some other point in the future.

The parade will have ended by the time
Chester gets out of bed. At eight o’clock I will
have left.

Key words: Verb, past participle, tense, preposition

The future perfect tense is
for talking about an action that will be completed between now and some point
in the future.

The Future Perfect Formula

The formula for the future
perfect tense is pretty simple: will
have + [past participle]. It doesn’t matter if the subject of your sentence
is singular or plural. The formula doesn’t change.

Here’s the positive:

By six pm tonight:

• I will have finished this book
• You will have studied the English tenses
• She will have cooked dinner
• He will have arrived
• We will have met Julie
• It will have stopped raining
• They will have left Japan

For the short form, we change will to ‘ll. But, when we are speaking, we also make ‘have’ shorter, so it sounds like I’ll’ve finished (don’t write this!). Here are some examples for you to listen to:

• I’ll have finished this book
• You’ll have studied the English tenses
• She’ll have cooked dinner
• He’ll have arrived
• We’ll have met Julie
• It’ll have stopped raining
• They’ll have left Japan

Here’s the negative:

By next week,

• I will not have finished this book
• You will not have studied the English tenses
• She will not have cooked dinner
• He will not have arrived
• We will not have met Julie
• It will not have stopped raining
• They will not have left Japan

Here’s the short form. Listen to how I shorten ‘have’ when I’m speaking:

• I won’t have finished this book
• You won’t have studied the English tenses
• She won’t have cooked dinner
• He won’t have arrived
• We won’t have met Julie
• It won’t have stopped raining
• They won’t have left Japan

To make the question, just put ‘will’ before the subject:

‘Yes / no’ questions:

By next year,

• will I have finished writing this book?
• will you have studied all the English verb tenses?
• will she have graduated?
• will he have got married?
• will it have got colder?
• will we have met your boyfriend?
• will they have left their jobs?

‘Wh’ questions:

• When will I have finished writing this book?
• Why will you have studied all the English verb tenses by tomorrow?
• When will she have been here three weeks?
• Why will he have got married before June?
• Why will it have got colder by May?
• How will we have met your boyfriend by tonight?
• When will they have left their jobs?

Future Perfect Quiz

You can do this grammar quiz online or print it on paper. It tests what you learned on the Future Perfect page.

1. I ________ by then.

2. Will you ________ by 8am?

3. You ________ the bill by the time the item arrives.

4. Melissa and Mike will be exhausted. They ________ slept for 24 hours.

5. He will have ________ all about it by Monday.

6. Will you ________ the contracts by Thursday?

7. The boss ________ by the time the orders come in.

8. Where ________ gone?

9. September works for us. Lisa will not ________ by then.

10. I will let you in. I ________ with the keys by the time you come in.