Future Perfect Continuous

The Future Perfect Continuous tense looks at the past from the future.

How do we make the Future Perfect Continuous Tense?

The structure of the Future Perfect Continuous tense is:

subject + auxiliary will + auxiliary have + auxiliary be + main verb
invariable invariable past participle present participle
will have been base + ing

For negative sentences in the Future Perfect Continuous tense, we insert not between will and have. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the Future Perfect Continuous:

  subject auxiliary verb   auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb  
+ I will   have been working for four hours.
+ You will   have been travelling for two days.
- She will not have been using the car.
- We will not have been waiting long.
? Will you   have been playing football?
? Will they   have been watching TV?
We sometimes use shall instead of will, especially for I and we.

Contraction with Future Perfect Continuous

In speaking with the Future Perfect Continuous tense, we often contract the subject and WILL:

I will I'll
you will you'll
he will
she will
it will
he'll
she'll
it'll
we will we'll
they will they'll

In negative sentences, we may contract with won't, like this:

I will not I won't
you will not you won't
he willnot
she will not
it will not
he won't
she won't
it won't
we will not we won't
they will not they won't

How do we use the Future Perfect Continuous Tense?

The Future Perfect Continuous tense is like the Future Perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions or states extending up to some specific event or time in the future. For example:

Ram will have been waiting for one hour when I arrive.
past present future
  Ram starts waiting at 9am.
 
 
  9 10
    I will arrive in future at 10am.

Notice that the long action or state can start at any time in the past, present or future, but of course it always ends in the future.

Next Monday we will have been living here for exactly five years.
past present future
 
  next
Mon.
  5 yrs ago    

Look at these examples:

Note that continuous tenses are also called progressive tenses. So the Future Perfect Continuous tense is sometimes called the Future Perfect Progressive tense.

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