Future Perfect

Future Perfect Tense

When using a word to refer to a state of being or an action, we generally use a verb. There are different types of verb tenses in languages like English when we are putting a verb in a sentence. The tense of any verb works to tell you at what time or at what point an event is happening, has happened, or will happen. The future perfect tense is what we will be looking at in this article. This tense is used to talk about an action or a state that will complete at one point in the future before another event has happened, also in the future. Let’s say that your friend Jackson calls you at 4 pm saying that he wants to come to your house to pick up a book that he wants to borrow. You tell him that he can come but must do so soon as you need to leave in the evening for an appointment. He says that he can be at your house by 7 pm, but you tell him, “That won’t work. By 7 pm, I will have already left home!” This means that you may be still at home after 4 pm (happening in the future), but before 7 pm (also in the future) you will leave. We will look into this in more detail when discussing the future perfect tense rule. First, let’s look at a few more future perfect tense examples: I will have fed the dog before it’s time to leave for work. The train would have left by the time they will reach the station. The very name of this verb tense reflects how it is to be used. Future – This refers to a state or an action that will occur sometime later in the future. Perfect – The basic rule is that the perfect form of verb is used to denote a state or an action that is complete. This may seem a little unusual when talking about the future, but future perfect tense refers to when a future event will probably be done before a different action starts.

Using Future Perfect Tense

The future perfect tense formula is very easy to understand and remember. You have your past participle in a sentence, and generally, you will add a ‘will have’ immediately before it. This future perfect tense rule can be used even if the subject is plural or singular. There are times when you can need to use either the simple future tense in a sentence or replace it with the future perfect tense. These may look similar but upon closer look one would understand the diffferece. She will eat before you get home. She will have eaten before you get home. In these examples, the first one indicates an action “will eat” that is supposed to happen in future. But, there is a certainty or definitiveness added to the same action “will have eaten” in the second sentence. You need to use the prepositions to indicate by what time or before what time an action will take place in future perfect tense. At 7 pm she will go home (She will wait till 7 pm to leave and go home). By 7 pm she will have gone home (She will leave to go home before 7 pm). The future perfect tense, as mentioned, has to be used only for something that will be done before a certain point on time in the future. What this means is that there must be a deadline for the action you’re talking about. If this is not the case, then you can just use the simple future tense. She will go. She will have gone. Remember that the past participle is that form of the verb for regular verbs that end with -d or even -ed. For example, talked is the past participle of talk. There is also the -t variant when it comes to past participles where the verb will not end in -ed, but -t. For example, knelt is the past participle form of kneel. But the past participle does not follow this when it comes to irregular verbs, and to better understand this is to look at the examples below. Heard – Heard Got – Gotten Choose – Chosen Learn – Learnt Speak – Spoken Catch – Caught Here are some more examples of sentences that have regular and also irregular verbs in the form of the future perfect tense: The sloths will have slept for quite a while before the caretakers come to give them food. I’m almost certain that the fish will get spoilt by the time we cook it. I hope that I will be at your place by this time next month. She will have walked about five miles by the time she reaches the office.

Making Future Perfect Tense Negative and Asking Questions

Making a future perfect tense negative is very simple because all you need to do is put the word ‘not’ in between, and you’re done. You can then have sentences like: I will not have finished making the quilt by the time you’re here. This is the third visit to the dentist, so by now, I know that my son will not have enjoyed his time there when I come to get him. The word ‘not’ can be used along with the word ‘won’t.’ With the way he is progressing, Jay will not have finished cooking by the time his mother gets home. With the way he is progressing, Jay won’t have finished cooking by the time his mother gets home. With the amount of tea we’re drinking, we will not have finished it before the next grocery trip. With the amount of tea we’re drinking, we won’t have finished it before the next grocery trip. When it comes to asking a question, the subject goes in between ‘will’ and  ‘have’, after which will come the past participle. Will you have painted your room by the time they come? Will they have finished setting up the stage before the band arrives?

Conclusion

Future perfect tense refers to the time when a certain event in the future will take place before another event happens in future. The formula to use a verb in future perfect is to add ‘will /shall have’ before the past participle form of a verb in a sentence regardless of whether the subject is in singular or plural. Adding ‘not’ or ‘won’t’ will make a sentence written in future perfect tense negative, and placing the subject between ‘will’ and  ‘have’ is the formula to form a question using future perfect tense. People should be careful to use future perfect tense. If there is no deadline for the event that will happen in the future in the sentence, then simple perfect tense can be used.