Learn the future perfect tense: structure, negative and interrogative forms, the time-clause rule, marker words, future perfect vs continuous, and examples for SSC, HSC, admission, and job exams.
Here is a neat trick this tense lets you do: stand in today, point to a moment in the future, and say an action will already be finished by the time you get there. “By this time next year, I will have graduated.” The graduating has not happened yet, but you are certain it will be complete by that future point. That is the future perfect tense, the tense of “will have finished by then”. This lesson takes you from its structure up to the finer rules for admission and job exams.
এই tense তোমাকে একটি চমৎকার কাজ করতে দেয়: আজকে দাঁড়িয়ে ভবিষ্যতের একটি মুহূর্তের দিকে ইশারা করে বলা যে সেখানে পৌঁছানোর আগেই একটি কাজ শেষ হয়ে যাবে। “By this time next year, I will have graduated।” graduate করা এখনো হয়নি, কিন্তু তুমি নিশ্চিত ভবিষ্যতের ওই সময়ের মধ্যে এটি সম্পন্ন হয়ে যাবে। এটাই future perfect tense, “তখনকার মধ্যে শেষ হয়ে যাবে” বোঝানোর tense। তাহলে চলো, শুরু করা যাক।
What is the Future Perfect Tense?
The future perfect tense expresses an action that will be completed before a certain point or time in the future (ভবিষ্যতের একটি নির্দিষ্ট সময়ের আগে সম্পন্ন হবে এমন কাজ)।
Future perfect tense এমন একটি কাজ প্রকাশ করে যা ভবিষ্যতের একটি নির্দিষ্ট বিন্দু বা সময়ের আগে সম্পন্ন হয়ে যাবে।
It is one of the twelve tenses. For the full picture, see our classification of tenses, and this tense leads into the future perfect continuous.
Signal words (চিহ্ন): by, by then, by the time, by the end of, before, by next week, by 2030.
The Structure
We use “shall have / will have” with the past participle (the third form) of the verb.
আমরা “shall have / will have” এর সাথে verb এর past participle (তৃতীয় রূপ) ব্যবহার করি।
Structure: subject + shall/will have + past participle.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative (হাঁ-বোধক) | subject + shall/will have + past participle | I will have finished the report by noon. |
| Negative (না-বোধক) | subject + shall/will + not + have + past participle | I will not have finished the report by noon. |
| Interrogative (প্রশ্নবোধক) | Shall/Will + subject + have + past participle? | Will you have finished the report by noon? |
Note the negative carefully: ‘not’ goes after ‘shall/will’, so it is “will not have”, never “will have not”. And in modern English, ‘will’ is used with all subjects; ‘shall’ now sounds formal.
Negative টি খেয়াল করো: ‘not’ বসে ‘shall/will’ এর পরে, তাই এটি “will not have”, কখনো “will have not” নয়। আর আধুনিক ইংরেজিতে সব subject এর সাথে ‘will’ ব্যবহৃত হয়; ‘shall’ এখন আনুষ্ঠানিক শোনায়।
Examples:
- By next month, she will have completed her training.
- The workers will have built the wall by evening.
- We shall have reached home before it gets dark.
- By 2030, this city will have doubled in size.
Negative and Interrogative Forms
For the negative, put not after ‘shall/will’. For a question, move ‘shall/will’ to the front.
Negative করতে ‘shall/will’ এর পরে not বসাও। প্রশ্ন করতে ‘shall/will’ বাক্যের শুরুতে আনো।
Examples:
- Negative: They will not have arrived by the time we leave.
- Negative: He will not have paid the bill by Friday.
- Interrogative: Will you have read the whole book by Sunday?
- Interrogative: Will the train have left before we reach the station?
Marker Words of the Future Perfect Tense
Certain words point straight to this tense, and almost all of them involve the word ‘by’, meaning “not later than“.
কিছু শব্দ সরাসরি এই tense এর দিকে নির্দেশ করে, আর এদের প্রায় সবই ‘by’ শব্দটি নিয়ে গঠিত, যার অর্থ “এর মধ্যেই”।
| Marker | Meaning (অর্থ) |
|---|---|
| by | not later than a time (এর মধ্যে) |
| by then | before that future time (তার মধ্যে) |
| by the time | before another action (আরেকটি কাজের আগে) |
| by the end of | before something finishes (শেষ হওয়ার আগে) |
| before | earlier than (আগে) |
Examples:
- You will have finished the project by Friday.
- By the end of this year, they will have paid off the loan.
Two Actions in the Future
This tense often appears with a second future action. The action that will be completed first takes the future perfect, and the second action takes the present simple, not ‘will’. Join them with before, after, or by the time.
এই tense প্রায়ই ভবিষ্যতের দ্বিতীয় একটি কাজের সাথে আসে। যে কাজটি আগে সম্পন্ন হবে সেটি future perfect এ বসে, আর দ্বিতীয় কাজটি present simple এ বসে, ‘will’ এ নয়। এদের before, after বা by the time দিয়ে যুক্ত করো।
Structure: Future Perfect + before / by the time + Present Simple.
Examples:
- I will have cooked dinner before the guests arrive. (not “before the guests will arrive”)
- By the time you wake up, I will have left for work.
- She will have finished her studies by the time she turns twenty-two.
The Time-Clause Rule (Very Important)
This is the trap that costs marks. After the time words before, after, when, until, and by the time, never use ‘will’. Use the present tense, even though the meaning is future.
এটাই সেই ফাঁদ যা নম্বর কাটে। before, after, when, until, by the time এর মতো সময়সূচক শব্দের পরে কখনো ‘will’ ব্যবহার করো না। অর্থ ভবিষ্যৎ হলেও present tense বসাও।
Examples:
- Correct: By the time the sun sets, we will have reached the village. (not “will set”)
- Correct: He will have repaired the car before you return. (not “will return”)
Future Perfect vs Future Simple
Admission and job exams test when the future perfect is truly needed. Use the future simple (‘will + verb’) for a plain future action. Use the future perfect (‘will have + past participle’) only when you want to show the action will be complete before a future point.
Admission ও job পরীক্ষায় যাচাই করা হয় কখন future perfect সত্যিই দরকার। সাধারণ ভবিষ্যৎ কাজের জন্য future simple (‘will + verb’) ব্যবহার করো। আর কাজটি ভবিষ্যতের একটি বিন্দুর আগে সম্পন্ন হবে তা দেখাতে হলে তবেই future perfect (‘will have + past participle’) ব্যবহার করো।
Examples:
- She will finish the report tomorrow. (future simple: a plain future plan)
- She will have finished the report by tomorrow. (future perfect: complete before that point)
Future Perfect vs Future Perfect Continuous
Keep these two apart. The future perfect stresses that an action will be complete by a future time. The future perfect continuous stresses that an action will still be going on, and for how long, up to that time.
এই দুটোকে আলাদা রাখো। Future perfect জোর দেয় কাজটি ভবিষ্যতের একটি সময়ের মধ্যে সম্পন্ন হবে তার উপর। আর future perfect continuous জোর দেয় কাজটি তখনো চলতে থাকবে এবং কতক্ষণ ধরে চলছে তার উপর।
Examples:
- By 6 pm, he will have written the article. (future perfect: it will be done)
- By 6 pm, he will have been writing the article for five hours. (future perfect continuous: still going on)
Practice Exercise with Answers
Put the verb in brackets into the future perfect tense, or the correct tense where a time clause applies.
বন্ধনীর verb টিকে future perfect এ বসাও, অথবা সময়সূচক clause এর ক্ষেত্রে সঠিক tense বসাও। নিজে চেষ্টা করার পরে উত্তর মিলিয়ে নাও।
- By next week, I ______ (finish) all my exams.
- She ______ (leave) before you ______ (arrive).
- By the time the film ends, we ______ (fall) asleep.
- The workers ______ (complete) the bridge by December.
- ______ you ______ (read) the book by Sunday?
- By 2035, scientists ______ (find) a cure for many diseases.
- He ______ (not / pay) the rent by the first of the month.
- By the time she ______ (come) back, we ______ (eat) dinner.
- They ______ (build) their new house before the rainy season ______ (start).
- ______ the guests ______ (arrive) by 8 pm?
- By this time tomorrow, the plane ______ (land) in London.
- I ______ (save) enough money by the time I ______ (turn) thirty.
Answers
- will have finished
- will have left; arrive (present simple after ‘before’)
- will have fallen
- will have completed
- Will … have read
- will have found
- will not have paid
- comes (present simple after ‘by the time’); will have eaten
- will have built; starts (present simple after ‘before’)
- Will … have arrived
- will have landed
- will have saved; turn (present simple after ‘by the time’)
A Tip for the Exam
The clearest sign of this tense is the word ‘by’ pointing to a future moment: by Friday, by then, by the time you come. When you see it with an action that must be finished first, build “will have + past participle”. But run two checks: after before, after, when, and by the time, use the present tense, not ‘will’; and if the sentence stresses how long an action will run rather than its completion, switch to the future perfect continuous. Those checks catch the errors most students make.
এই tense এর সবচেয়ে স্পষ্ট চিহ্ন হলো ‘by’ শব্দটি যা ভবিষ্যতের একটি মুহূর্ত বোঝায়: by Friday, by then, by the time you come। এটি এমন একটি কাজের সাথে দেখলে যা আগে শেষ হতে হবে, “will have + past participle” তৈরি করো। তবে দুটি যাচাই করো: before, after, when, by the time এর পরে ‘will’ নয়, present tense বসাও; আর বাক্যটি সম্পন্নতার বদলে কাজটি কতক্ষণ চলবে তার উপর জোর দিলে future perfect continuous এ যাও। এই যাচাইগুলো বেশিরভাগ শিক্ষার্থীর ভুল ধরে ফেলে।
Related Lessons
Keep learning the tenses with these lessons:
- 12 Tenses in English Grammar: Full Classification with Examples
- Present Indefinite Tense: 10 Rules, Examples & Exercises
- Present Continuous Tense in English Grammar
- Present Perfect Tense in English Grammar
- Present Perfect Continuous Tense in English Grammar
- Past Indefinite Tense (Simple Past): 4 Rules & Examples
- Past Continuous Tense in English Grammar
- Past Perfect Tense in English Grammar
- Past Perfect Continuous Tense in English Grammar
- Future Indefinite Tense (Simple Future): 4 Rules & Examples
- Future Continuous Tense: Rules, Structure & Examples
- Future Perfect Continuous Tense: Rules, Structure & Examples
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the future perfect tense?
It expresses an action that will be completed before a certain point or time in the future, such as “I will have finished the work by noon”.
What is the structure of the future perfect tense?
Subject + shall/will have + past participle. The negative is “will not have + past participle”, and the question is “Will + subject + have + past participle?”.
Why is it “will not have finished” and not “will have not finished”?
Because ‘not’ goes after the first auxiliary, ‘will’ or ‘shall’. So the correct order is “will not have finished”.
Why do we say “before the guests arrive” and not “before the guests will arrive”?
After time words like before, after, when, until, and by the time, we use the present tense, not ‘will’, even when the meaning is future.
What is the difference between future perfect and future perfect continuous?
The future perfect stresses a completed action by a future time (“will have written”). The future perfect continuous stresses an ongoing action and its duration (“will have been writing for five hours”).