Learning English

What will the future bring and when?

We never know what will happen in the future but we can have plans. We can imagine ourselves in the future looking back at our achievements.

This is how teenager Susan imagines her life:

"By the time I'm 21 I'll have graduated from university. I'll have got married and had two children by the time I'm 30 and by 50 I'll have made my fortune from writing. By age 60 I'll have retired to a comfortable cottage in the countryside."

Susan imagines different times in her life and looks back from those times at her life. To do this she uses the future perfect form.

We use this form whenever we make predictions about something that is completed before a particular time.

• By the time you finish your shower I'll have finished my essay so we can go straight out.
• Next month we'll have known each other for ten years.
• This time next year I'll have completed my course so we can go travelling then.

ነቲ ጽሑፍ ብምንባብ ነቲ ስራሕ ዕመምዎ

Time phrases

The future perfect looks back from a particular time so it's common to have time phrases in a future perfect sentence.

by + time/date/occasion:

• By2020 this city wlll have doubled in size.
• We'll have finished the building work by next month.
• Will you have finished painting the bathroom by Christmas?

in + month/year/period of time:

• In June I'll have been out of work for three years.
• In 2020 we'll have been in this house for seven years.
• In 3 years we'll have been together for a decade

When talking about a period of time rather than a specific time you can also use (time period) from now or in (time period's) time:

• Three years from now we'll have been together for a decade.
• In three years' time we'll have been together for a decade.

Making the future perfect

The structure of the future perfect is:

subject + 'll/will/won't + 've/have + past participle

To do

Can you make well-formed future perfect sentences? Try the quiz to find out. Use the prompts below to help you. 

1: you get home / he / to go to bed

2: you late / the film / to start

3: we / to move house / spring

4: 7 years / we / to pay off / the mortgage

5: we / to predict / 2018 / our profits / to double

Next

The future perfect is not only for the future! It can also be used for the present and the past. Find out how in the next activity...