How to Master the Future Perfect in English

Welcome to this lesson on the future perfect tense in English! We’ll be covering the form of this tense, as well as its uses and examples.

The Form of the Future Perfect Tense

The Future perfect tense is written this way:

Will/shall have + past participle

Examples

• Affirmative: They will / shall have finished the school year by July.
• Negative: He shall / will not have completed the test by the end of the lesson.
• Interrogative: Will / shall you have eaten this food by then?

The Use of the Future Perfect Tense

The future perfect tense is usually used to talk about an action:

• That will be completed before a specific time in the future.
• That will be completed before another action takes place in the future.

In Morocco, the school year starts in September and finishes on the 10th of July. we can say:

Students will have done all their tests by the beginning of July.

So before the 10th of July comes, the action of doing tests will have been completed as shown in this picture:

Note also:

I save 50$ a month and I started in January. So by the end of August, I will have saved 400$.

Time Expressions Used with this Tense

The future perfect tense is used to express actions that will have been completed by a certain point in the future. The most common expressions used with the future perfect tense are:

1. By + time
   Example: By next year, I will have completed my degree.
2. In + time
   Example: In three weeks, I will have finished reading the book.
3. By the time + clause
   Example: By the time she arrives, we will have finished dinner.
4. Before + clause
   Example: Before the end of the month, we will have finished the project.
5. By the end of + time
   Example: By the end of the year, the company will have increased profits by 10%.