Future Perfect

The future perfect tense describes an action that will be finished before a specific moment in the future. You use it to look ahead to a point in time and then look back at what will already be complete: By Friday, I will have finished the report. On Friday, the report won't be in progress. It will be done.

This page explains how to form the future perfect, the four situations where native speakers use it, the time expressions that go with it, and how it differs from other future tenses. When you're ready, test yourself with the future perfect quizzes.

The future perfect at a glance

Form	Structure	Example
Positive	subject + will have + past participle	She will have left by 8 p.m.
Negative	subject + will not (won't) have + past participle	She won't have left by 8 p.m.
Question	Will + subject + have + past participle?	Will she have left by 8 p.m.?
Short answers	Yes, subject + will. / No, subject + won't.	Yes, she will. / No, she won't.
Wh- question	Question word + will + subject + have + past participle?	How much will you have saved by June?
Passive	subject + will have been + past participle	The bridge will have been completed by 2030.

The form never changes for different subjects. It's I will have finished, he will have finished and they will have finished, with no has and no -s.

How to form it, step by step

1. Start with will. It's the same for every subject.
2. Add have. Always have, never has or had, because it follows a modal verb.
3. Add the past participle. For regular verbs, this is the -ed form (worked, finished). Irregular verbs have their own forms, which you need to learn.

Here are some common irregular past participles you'll need often:

Base verb	Past participle	Future perfect example
go	gone	They will have gone home by midnight.
write	written	I will have written three chapters by May.
eat	eaten	We will have eaten before you arrive.
take	taken	She will have taken the exam by then.
see	seen	You will have seen the results by tomorrow.
begin	begun	The film will have begun when we get there.

Contractions

In speech and informal writing, will usually becomes 'll and will not becomes won't: I'll have finished, they won't have arrived. In fast speech, have is reduced too, so I'll have finished sounds like "I'll-uv finished." In writing, always spell it have, never of.

When to use the future perfect

1. An action complete before a future point

This is the main use. Picture a deadline in the future, then say what will be done by that time.

• By the end of this year, I will have read 30 books.
• The builders will have finished the kitchen before Christmas.
• Don't worry, the plane will have landed by the time you reach the airport.

2. How long something will have lasted

Use the future perfect with for to measure a period up to a future moment. This is especially common with state verbs such as be, know, live and have, which don't normally take the continuous form.

• Next month, we will have been married for ten years.
• By the time she retires, she will have worked here for 35 years.
• In June, I will have known Tom for half my life.

3. Goals, targets and predictions

The future perfect is common in plans, business reports and personal goals, because it focuses on results.

• By 2030, the company will have opened 50 new stores.
• If I keep practising, I will have reached B2 level by next summer.
• Scientists predict that the glacier will have disappeared within 40 years.

4. Confident guesses about the present or past

This use surprises many learners. Native speakers, especially in British English, use the future perfect to say what they think has probably already happened, even though the time isn't in the future at all.

• Don't call him now. He'll have gone to bed. (I'm fairly sure he has gone to bed.)
• You'll have heard the news, I suppose. (I assume you have heard it.)
• It's 6 o'clock, so the shops will have closed.

Here, the future perfect works like must have: He'll have gone to bed means much the same as He must have gone to bed.

Time expressions that signal the future perfect

The future perfect almost always needs a time reference, because the whole point is completion before something. These are the expressions to look for:

Expression	Meaning	Example
by + time	no later than	I'll have replied by Monday.
by the time + clause	before or at the moment something happens	By the time you wake up, I'll have left.
by then / by that time	before the time just mentioned	The party starts at nine. By then, we'll have eaten.
before + time or clause	earlier than	She'll have finished before the meeting starts.
in + period / in … time	after that much time has passed	In five years' time, they'll have paid off the loan.
within + period	before the end of that period	The software will have been updated within 24 hours.
for + period	duration up to a future point	By June, I'll have lived here for a decade.

The by the time rule

This is the most important grammar point on this page. After by the time, when, before and after, use the present simple to talk about the future, not will. The future perfect goes in the other half of the sentence.

• ✓ By the time you arrive, we'll have finished dinner.
• ✗ By the time you will arrive, we'll have finished dinner.

The same rule means the future perfect itself can't go inside the time clause. Use the present perfect there instead: I'll call you when I've finished, not when I will have finished.

Future perfect vs. other future tenses

English has several ways to talk about the future, and each looks at the future from a different angle. Imagine a student who will write an essay tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.:

Tense	Example	What it focuses on
Future simple	She will write the essay tomorrow.	The action as a simple future fact
Future continuous	At 3 p.m., she will be writing the essay.	The action in progress at a future moment
Future perfect	By 6 p.m., she will have written the essay.	The action complete before a future moment
Future perfect continuous	By 5 p.m., she will have been writing for three hours.	How long the action will have been in progress

A quick test: if you can add already and the sentence still makes sense at the future moment, you probably need the future perfect. At 6 p.m. she has already written the essay, so By 6 p.m., she will have written it is right.

The most common confusion: future perfect or future simple?

Compare these two sentences:

• When you get home, I will cook dinner. You get home first, then I start cooking.
• When you get home, I will have cooked dinner. Dinner is already ready when you arrive.

The difference is the order of events. The future simple puts the action after the time reference; the future perfect puts it before.

How it fits with the other perfect tenses

All three perfect tenses share the same idea: an action that is complete before a reference point. Only the reference point moves.

Tense	Reference point	Example
Past perfect	a moment in the past	By 2020, I had moved to Berlin.
Present perfect	now	I have moved to Berlin.
Future perfect	a moment in the future	By 2030, I will have moved to Berlin.

If you already understand the present perfect and past perfect, you already understand the logic of the future perfect. Just move the reference point forward.

Common mistakes with the future perfect

Incorrect	Correct	Why
She will has finished by noon.	She will have finished by noon.	After will, always use have.
I will have finish the project.	I will have finished the project.	Use the past participle, not the base form.
They will have went home.	They will have gone home.	Went is the past simple; the past participle is gone.
By the time she will arrive, we'll have left.	By the time she arrives, we'll have left.	Use the present simple after by the time.
I'll text you when I will have landed.	I'll text you when I've landed.	Use the present perfect, not the future perfect, after when.
I will of finished soon.	I will have finished soon.	've sounds like of, but it's always written have.
Tomorrow I will have visited my aunt.	Tomorrow I will visit my aunt.	Without a "before" point to look back from, use the future simple.

The future perfect in real life

You'll hear and read the future perfect most often when people talk about deadlines, milestones and progress. Here are some typical examples by situation:

Situation	Example
Work	I'll have sent you the final figures by end of day.
Study	By the time exams start, we'll have covered the whole syllabus.
Travel	By this time next week, we'll have landed in Tokyo.
Money	If I save £200 a month, I'll have saved £2,400 by next year.
Health and fitness	By Sunday, I'll have run 100 kilometres this month.
Milestones	On Saturday, my parents will have been together for 40 years.

Notice how often the future perfect appears with by and with numbers. It's the natural tense for talking about totals, targets and anniversaries.

Quick self-check

Complete each sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

1. By the time we get to the cinema, the film ______ (start).
2. ______ you ______ (finish) the report by Thursday?
3. Next year, they ______ (live) in this house for 20 years.
4. By the time she ______ (call), I'll have left the office.
5. Don't phone Anna now. She ______ (go) to sleep.

Answers: 1. will have started; 2. Will … have finished; 3. will have lived; 4. calls (present simple after by the time); 5. will have gone (an assumption about now).

Got them all right? Take the full future perfect quizzes to practise with hundreds more questions, from simple form exercises to tricky choices between the future tenses.