Time Future Perfect – completed before tomorrow arrives

Time Future Perfect (future perfect) is used to talk about actions that will be completed before a specific moment in the future. Imagine that you are traveling in time to tomorrow and from there you look at what you have already managed to do.

Part 1: For beginners (Fundamentals)

The basic function of this tense is a promise or statement that we will manage to do something by a certain moment. This moment can be a specific hour (e.g. by 5 PM), a date (e.g. by the end of the year), or another action (e.g. before you arrive).

1. How do we build sentences?

The construction combines features of the future tense and the perfect tense. You need three elements in a fixed arrangement:

• Subject (e.g. I, you, she, they).
• Unchanging double operator: will have (in negatives: won’t have). Remember that in this tense even for he/she/it we always use have (never has!).
• Main verb in the III form (Past Participle) – with the ending -ed (e.g. finished) or from the 3rd column of irregular verbs (e.g. done, written).

Examples of usage:

• I will have finished this report by Friday. (I will finish this report by Friday).
• She will have cooked dinner before the guests arrive. (She will manage to cook dinner before the guests arrive).
• Will you have read this book by next week? (Will you manage to read this book by next week?).

2. Words that should raise a „red flag”

The most important word for this tense is the preposition by (by a certain time):

• by 5 o’clock (by 5:00)
• by tomorrow (by tomorrow)
• by the end of the year (by the end of the year)
• before (before) / by the time (by the time when)

Part 2: For advanced learners (Nuances and contexts)

As is often the case in English, Future Perfect hides a few surprises and advanced applications that go beyond typical plans.

1. Summary of duration (with the word „for”)

We often use this tense to „summarize” how long a given state has already lasted at a specific point in the future. We usually do this with verbs that do not like the -ing form (e.g. be, know, have).

• By next month, we will have been married for 10 years. (By next month, it will be 10 years since we have been married – the state will start in the past and last until that point).
• At 5 PM, I will have known him for exactly a year. (At 5 PM, it will be exactly a year since I have known him).

2. Logical assumptions about… the past! (Deductions)

This is an absolute hit for advanced learners! Although the tense is called „Future”, we can use it to express an assumption about what happened yesterday or just a moment ago. It expresses the belief that something definitely took place.

• You will have heard the news about their divorce. (You have probably already heard the news about their divorce – I assume this because everyone is talking about it).
• He left an hour ago. He will have arrived home by now. (He left an hour ago. He has certainly managed to get home by now).

3. Let’s catch the difference: Future Simple vs Future Perfect