Learn the future perfect continuous tense: structure, negative and interrogative forms, since vs for, the time-clause rule, and examples for SSC, HSC, admission, and job exams. With Bengali explanations.
Think ahead to a moment in the future, and now look back from it. “By next March, I will have been teaching at this school for ten years.” Standing in that future March, you look back over a stretch of time that is still running. That is the whole idea of the future perfect continuous tense: an action that will have been going on for a length of time up to a point in the future. It sounds complex, but once you see the pattern, it is one of the easiest tenses to spot. This lesson covers it fully, from structure to the finer rules for admission and job exams.
ভবিষ্যতের একটি মুহূর্তের কথা ভাবো, তারপর সেখান থেকে পেছনে তাকাও। “By next March, I will have been teaching at this school for ten years।” ভবিষ্যতের ওই মার্চে দাঁড়িয়ে তুমি এমন একটি সময়ের দিকে ফিরে তাকাচ্ছ যা তখনো চলছে। এটাই future perfect continuous tense এর মূল ধারণা: এমন একটি কাজ যা ভবিষ্যতের একটি নির্দিষ্ট সময় পর্যন্ত কিছুকাল ধরে চলতে থাকবে। শুনতে জটিল লাগলেও, প্যাটার্নটি একবার বুঝলে এটি চেনা সবচেয়ে সহজ tense গুলোর একটি। তাহলে চলো, শুরু করা যাক।
What is the Future Perfect Continuous Tense?
The future perfect continuous tense expresses an action that will have been continuing for a period of time up to a certain point in the future (ভবিষ্যতের একটি নির্দিষ্ট সময় পর্যন্ত চলতে থাকবে এমন কাজ)। Like the other perfect continuous tenses, it almost always mentions the length of time.
Future perfect continuous tense এমন একটি কাজ প্রকাশ করে যা ভবিষ্যতের একটি নির্দিষ্ট সময় পর্যন্ত কিছুকাল ধরে চলতে থাকবে। অন্য perfect continuous tense গুলোর মতোই, এটি প্রায় সবসময় কতক্ষণ ধরে তা উল্লেখ করে।
It is the twelfth and last of the tenses. It is closely linked to the future perfect and past perfect continuous tenses. For the whole picture, see our classification of tenses.
এটি বারোটি tense এর দ্বাদশ ও শেষটি।
Signal words (চিহ্ন): by, by the time, by the end of, for, since, how long.
The Structure
We use “shall have been / will have been” with the -ing form of the verb.
আমরা “shall have been / will have been” এর সাথে verb এর -ing রূপ ব্যবহার করি।
Structure: subject + shall/will have been + (verb + ing) + for/since + time.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative (হাঁ-বোধক) | subject + shall/will have been + verb-ing | By June, she will have been studying medicine for five years. |
| Negative (না-বোধক) | subject + shall/will + not + have been + verb-ing | He will not have been working here for long. |
| Interrogative (প্রশ্নবোধক) | Shall/Will + subject + have been + verb-ing? | Will you have been waiting long by then? |
Note the full auxiliary is “have been”, never “has been”, because ‘will’ and ‘shall’ are the same for all subjects. And in modern English, ‘will’ is used with every subject; ‘shall’ now sounds formal.
মনে রেখো, auxiliary টি সবসময় “have been”, কখনো “has been” নয়, কারণ ‘will’ ও ‘shall’ সব subject এর জন্য একই। আর আধুনিক ইংরেজিতে সব subject এর সাথে ‘will’ ব্যবহৃত হয়; ‘shall’ এখন আনুষ্ঠানিক শোনায়।
Examples:
- By 2030, they will have been running this business for twenty years.
- Next month, I shall have been living in this city for a decade.
- By evening, the workers will have been building the wall for eight hours.
- By the time you finish, we will have been waiting for an hour.
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: She will not have been teaching for long by then.
- Negative: They will not have been playing for more than an hour.
- Interrogative: Will he have been driving all night by morning?
- Interrogative: Will you have been studying for three hours by then?
Since and For
As in the other perfect continuous tenses, choose ‘since’ for a point of time and ‘for’ for a period of time. This chart makes it clear.
অন্য perfect continuous tense গুলোর মতোই, নির্দিষ্ট শুরুর বিন্দুর জন্য ‘since’ আর সময়ের ব্যাপ্তির জন্য ‘for’ বাছো। নিচের chart টি এটি পরিষ্কার করে দেয়।
| ‘For’ (a period of time / ব্যাপ্তি) | ‘Since’ (a point of time / নির্দিষ্ট বিন্দু) |
|---|---|
| for an hour / two hours | since 10 am / 5 pm |
| for a day / three days | since Monday / Friday |
| for a week / four weeks | since last week |
| for a month / five months | since January / March |
| for a year / two years | since 1999 / 2020 |
| for a long time | since morning |
Examples:
- He will have been making the basket for two months. (a length of time)
- He will have been making the basket since January. (a starting point)
Two Actions in the Future
This tense often appears with a second future action. The longer, ongoing action takes the future perfect continuous, and the second action takes the present simple, not ‘will’. Join them with before, when, or by the time.
এই tense প্রায়ই ভবিষ্যতের দ্বিতীয় একটি কাজের সাথে আসে। দীর্ঘ, চলমান কাজটি future perfect continuous এ বসে, আর দ্বিতীয় কাজটি present simple এ বসে, ‘will’ এ নয়। এদের before, when বা by the time দিয়ে যুক্ত করো।
Structure: Future Perfect Continuous + before/when/by the time + Present Simple.
Examples:
- I will have been writing the report for an hour before you come. (not “before you will come”)
- They will have been playing cricket for two hours by the time we arrive.
- Mark will have been studying here for two years by the time he leaves for university.
The Time-Clause Rule (Very Important)
This is the trap that costs marks. After the time words before, 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, 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 guests arrive, she will have been cooking for hours. (not “will arrive”)
- Correct: He will have been travelling for a day before he reaches home. (not “will reach”)
Future Perfect vs Future Perfect Continuous
Admission and job exams often test this difference. 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 ongoing, and for how long, up to that time.
Admission ও job পরীক্ষায় এই পার্থক্য প্রায়ই আসে। Future perfect জোর দেয় ভবিষ্যতের একটি সময়ের মধ্যে কাজটি সম্পন্ন হবে তার উপর। আর future perfect continuous জোর দেয় কাজটি তখনো চলতে থাকবে এবং কতক্ষণ ধরে চলছে তার উপর।
Examples:
- By 5 pm, she will have finished the report. (future perfect: the report will be done)
- By 5 pm, she will have been working on the report for six hours. (future perfect continuous: the work will still be going on)
A Common Trap: Stative Verbs
Some verbs describe a state, not an action, and are not used in the continuous form. These include know, believe, understand, love, want, and own. With these, use the future perfect instead.
কিছু verb একটি অবস্থা বোঝায়, কাজ নয়, আর এদের continuous রূপে ব্যবহার করা হয় না। এদের মধ্যে আছে know, believe, understand, love, want, own। এদের ক্ষেত্রে future perfect continuous এর বদলে future perfect ব্যবহার করো।
Examples:
- Correct: By next year, I will have known her for a decade. (not “will have been knowing”)
- Correct: By then, they will have owned the land for fifty years. (not “will have been owning”)
Practice Exercise with Answers
Fill in each gap with the future perfect continuous tense, or the correct tense where a time clause applies.
প্রতিটি gap এ future perfect continuous বসাও, অথবা সময়সূচক clause এর ক্ষেত্রে সঠিক tense বসাও। নিজে চেষ্টা করার পরে উত্তর মিলিয়ে নাও।
- By December, I ______ (work) at this company for five years.
- By the time you arrive, we ______ (wait) ______ two hours.
- Next month, she ______ (learn) French ______ three years.
- By 9 pm, the team ______ (practise) for four hours.
- He ______ (drive) all night by the time he ______ (reach) Dhaka.
- By the end of this year, they ______ (build) the bridge ______ eighteen months.
- ______ you ______ (study) for long by the time the exam ______ (start)?
- By sunset, the farmers ______ (plough) the field for six hours.
- By next week, I ______ (stay) in this hotel ______ ten days.
- She ______ (not / sleep) well for a week by the time the results ______ (come).
- By the time the film ends, we ______ (sit) here ______ three hours.
- By 2035, this school ______ (serve) the village ______ fifty years.
Answers
- will have been working for five years.
- will have been waiting; for
- will have been learning French for three years.
- will have been practising
- will have been driving; reaches (present simple after ‘by the time’)
- will have been building; for
- Will … have been studying; starts (present simple after ‘by the time’)
- will have been ploughing
- will have been staying; for
- will not have been sleeping; come (present simple after ‘by the time’)
- will have been sitting; for
- will have been serving; for
A Tip for the Exam
Two signs point to this tense: the word ‘by’ or ‘by the time’ pointing to a future moment, and a length of time (‘for’ or ‘since’) for an action still running up to it. When you see both, build “will have been + verb-ing”. But make two quick checks first: after before, when, and by the time, use the present tense, not ‘will’; and if the verb is stative, use the future perfect instead. Those two checks are where the easy marks are won and lost.
দুটি চিহ্ন এই tense এর দিকে নির্দেশ করে: ‘by’ বা ‘by the time’ যা ভবিষ্যতের একটি মুহূর্ত বোঝায়, আর সেই পর্যন্ত চলা কাজের একটি সময়ের ব্যাপ্তি (‘for’ বা ‘since’)। দুটোই দেখলে “will have been + verb-ing” তৈরি করো। তবে আগে দুটি দ্রুত যাচাই করো: before, when, by the time এর পরে ‘will’ নয়, present tense বসাও; আর verb টি stative হলে future perfect ব্যবহার করো। এই দুটি যাচাইয়েই সহজ নম্বর জেতা বা হারা হয়।
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: Rules, Structure & Examples
- 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 Tense Rules & Usages in English Grammar
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the future perfect continuous tense?
It expresses an action that will have been continuing for a period of time up to a certain point in the future, such as “By June, she will have been studying for five years”.
What is the structure of the future perfect continuous tense?
Subject + shall/will have been + verb-ing + for/since + time. The negative is “will not have been + verb-ing”, and the question is “Will + subject + have been + verb-ing?”.
What is the difference between future perfect and future perfect continuous?
The future perfect stresses a completed action by a future time (“She will have finished the report”). The future perfect continuous stresses an ongoing action and its duration (“She will have been working for six hours”).
Why do we say “before you come” and not “before you will come”?
After time words like before, when, until, and by the time, we use the present tense, not ‘will’, even when the meaning is future.
Which verbs are not used in the future perfect continuous tense?
Stative verbs like know, believe, love, want, and own are not used in the continuous form. Use the future perfect instead, as in “I will have known her for a decade”.