Look at these examples to see how the future continuous and future perfect are used.
In three years' time, I'll be studying medicine.
In five years' time, I'll have finished studying medicine.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Future continuous
We can use the future continuous (will/won't be + -ing form) to talk about future actions that:
- will be in progress at a specific time in the future:
When you come out of school tomorrow, I'll be boarding a plane.
Try to call before 8 o'clock. After that, we'll be watching the match.
You can visit us during the first week of July. I won't be working then.
- we see as new, different or temporary:
Today we're taking the bus but next week we'll be taking the train.
He'll be staying with his parents for several months while his father is in recovery.
Will you be starting work earlier with your new job?
Future perfect
We use the future perfect simple (will/won't have + past participle) to talk about something that will be completed before a specific time in the future.
The guests are coming at 8 p.m. I'll have finished cooking by then.
On 9 October we'll have been married for 50 years.
Will you have gone to bed when I get back?
We can use phrases like by or by the time (meaning 'at some point before') and in or in a day's time / in two months' time / in five years' time etc. (meaning 'at the end of this period') to give the time period in which the action will be completed.
I won't have written all the reports by next week.
By the time we arrive, the kids will have gone to bed.
I'll have finished in an hour and then we can watch a film.
In three years' time, I'll have graduated from university.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello sanjoy,
I already answered your question on another page! Please be patient and don't ask your question more than once. We try to respond quickly, but make no guarantees about how fast we will do so.
Thanks for your understanding.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello ihab1000,
The correct answer is (b). For (c) to be correct there would need to be a time reference of some kind - 'will have been... for twenty years', for example.
Please note that generally we don't provide answers to tasks and exercises from elsewhere. If we did this then we'd end up doing people's homework and tests for them, which is not our role.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello JakiGeh,
Yes, the sentence here means that the speaker expects that you already know this. In other words, the speaker does not think that the information about his new glasses is news to you.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sanazi,
The use of 'will have noticed' here is key. Compare these:
'Will have' here is a prediction or a guess about the past. It means something like 'I am sure that you have already...'
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello claudiaes,
Although in general the present tense is used to refer to the present, in fact it can actually be used to refer to the past (e.g. in stories), the present (e.g. habits) and the future (e.g. fixed plans)! As for this specific context, which is a time clause (this one begins with the word 'when'), the present simple is used here, even though you're referring to the future. You can see a bit more about this on our time clauses page.
By the way, this is very similar to Spanish, which wouldn't allow a future tense here, but rather a present subjunctive. In Catalan and French, a future tense is possible, but I believe a present subjunctive is also possible here, or at least it is in Catalan.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Elena,
First of all, there are a couple of other pages that describe different uses of the future continuous that I'd recommend you read. The first is a current BBC Learning English page and the second is an older BBC Learning English page.
I wouldn't say that the future continuous by itself refers to a future event that's impossible to change. Rather, as an instance of the continuous aspect, it shows a different perspective on the future event. It's as if the event is going to happen whether you want it to or not, either because it's already planned or because it's something that you perceive that will happen anyway, despite whatever may happen now. Much of the time both A) 'I'm meeting with Mary tomorrow' and B) 'I'll be meeting with Mary tomorrow' could be used in the same context, but, for example, B could (but not necessarily - context and you the speaker's conception of the event are key) also imply or indicate that you see it as a meeting that will take all your time.
By the way, the future continuous can also be used to make predictions about future periods of time (e.g. 'When I'm 75 years old, I'll be living in Stockholm'). It's really a rather versatile tense!
I hope this helps you a bit.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Puckerino,
I would say the first is correct (we'll know) as the reference is to a future time. We use the future perfect (we'll have known) when the time reference is to a point before a point in the future, and that is not the case here.
The verb in the second clause should probably be present simple (when we research) as we generally use present forms after time linkers such as this.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Natalia,
The future perfect can be used to say that you think that something happened in the past – that is the way it is being used in this sentence. This is quite an advanced form that is not used all that often, which is why you won't find it explained elsewhere on our site.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kudlata,
Yes, you can use 'since' with the future perfect continuous – your sentence is perfect! Congratulations!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello cleaner,
Yes, you can say that. The two forms take slightly different perspectives on the event, but they mean the same thing. The form you asked about (with 'will') is more commonly used than the future perfect form.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello wisefool,
Yes, that's a correctly formed sentence. It uses 'will' to make a prediction about the future.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi seaara,
The key word in your first question is 'usually'. When we analyse frequency we can see that 'much' and 'many' are used most often in negative sentences, but they can be and are used in affirmative sentences too and that is why examples of these are given.
The countable forms of the words you give are commonly bought or served units. So, if I say 'I have some coffee' then I mean the substance (beans, powder, liquid), but if I say 'I have a coffee' then I mean a cup of coffee. Similarly, an ice cream means one cone, for example, and a chocolate means one piece from a box.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sunrisereham,
'In three years' time' is less common in informal contexts, but otherwise there's no real difference in meaning between the first two sentences you ask about.
The preposition 'in' isn't used before the names of days of the week in general; when referring to time, 'by' means 'not later than' or 'at or before' – you can see some more example sentences of it with this meaning in the Cambridge Dictionary.
As for your last questions, 'by the summer' is a bit different to 'in the summer', as it specifies that you'll have finished before (or perhaps at the beginning of) the summer, whereas 'in' means sometime during the summer months. 'at' is OK in the sentence you ask about since the phrase after it already refers to the end of that time period, but 'by' is probably more common in that kind of context, i.e. with the future perfect.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello id347627,
When 'see' is used to describe what we do with our eyes then we generally do not use in in a continuous form. However, here 'see' means something different. It means here 'meet' and so it can be in a continuous form ('Will you be meeting...?').
There are other verbs which function in a similar way. For example, 'have' is not used generally in continuous forms when it refers to possession. However, 'have' can be used with other meanings such as 'take' ('He's having a shower') or drink ('They're having a coffee in the cafe').
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Mema abdelhamid,
I wouldn't say it's 100% certain. You can speculate about things that seem unlikely. For example, it's fine to say
I think astronauts will maybe have landed on Mars by the year 2020.
Future perfect describes an event in the future which will be completed by another time in the future. It does not necessarily imply certainty. Future continuous describes an event which we expect to be in progress at a particular time, but also does not imply certainty. For example:
Don't phone grandma now because there's a chance she will be having dinner.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sunrisereham,
A lot of these distinctions depend on the context, so it's hard to differentiate all examples.
I'll be thinking of you when you go into hospital - this means the person will do this repeatedly or continuously while the person is in hospital, not just once.
I'll will think of you when you go into hospital - this suggests that the person will think about them once, not repeatedly.
I will be writing to you - ('to', I think, not 'for') this really depends on the context. It could mean regularly (the most likely option), or it could mean that the action will be in progress at a certain time (less likely, but possible).
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sunrisereham,
When we use 'will be [verb]ing' we are guessing based on what we expect at a given time. When we use 'are [verb]ing' we are sure.
Similarly, in your second example when you use 'will' you are saying 'this is what I expect to be the case', while when you use the present simple you are stating a fact which is certain.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello sunrisereham,
The present continuous is used to talk about fixed events in the future in a more general way and the future continuous to speak about events that are expected to happen in the normal course of events, almost as if they were inevitable. This is especially true in the case of the president above – there's little that can stop the fact that he'll have been in power for 10 years. In the case of the person travelling, there could be the sense that this plan isn't changeable or was imposed on the person from the outside – it really depends on the context.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello MD.SALMAN,
These are different forms of the verb.
'Make' is an infinitive or present form.
'Made' is a past simple or past participle form.
These are fundamental verb forms and their use is detailed on relevant pages in the grammar section on verbs - here. For questions like this - very broad and general questions about fundamental aspects of the grammatical system - the comments section is not really a good place, but the grammar section contains this information and you can work through it at your own pace.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello wisefool,
The present simple is often used to talk about timetabled events, e.g. such as a program starting at 10. The dinner on Friday is a one-time event and is viewed as a plan – this is a typical use of 'going to'. Please see our talking about the future page for more on this topic in general.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team