LESSON 12: USE OF FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

How do we use the Future Perfect Tense?

 

 

The future perfect tense expresses action in the future before another action in the future. This is the past in the future.


For example:

• The train will leave the station at 9am. You will arrive at the station at 9.15am. When you arrive, the train will have left.

The train will have left when you arrive.
past	present	future
		Train leaves in future at 9am.
9   9.15
		You arrive in future at 9.15am.

Look at some more examples:

• You can call me at work at 8am. I will have arrived at the office by 8.
• They will be tired when they arrive. They will not have slept for a long time.
• "Mary won't be at home when you arrive."
  "Really? Where will she have gone?"

You can sometimes think of the future perfect tense like the present perfect tense, but instead of your viewpoint being in the present, it is in the future:

present perfect tense				future perfect tense
	| have | done | > |					will | have | done | > |
past	now	future		past	now	future