I originally wrote this post last year but I have updated it a little and you may have missed it anyway, so, here goes. This article is about the Future Perfect Tense in English.
Last year I wrote about new year’s resolutions so I won’t repeat myself here. Today I thought I’d tell you about my general plans for this year and talk to you about the seldom used (by you!) ‘future perfect’ tense.
Music
So I’ll start with music and this year Guns ‘n’ Roses will play in Prague. I am really looking forward to seeing them as I have been a fan of theirs since I was a teenager. They are playing at Letnany airfield on July 4th (U.S. independence day). (update – I didn’t actually get to this concert but I did go to see the Dire Straits Experience in Lucerna Veklý Sal, a brilliant gig I must say.)
As I write I have almost completed my first video course with a lot of useful information that I know will help you immediately improve your English and put a smile on your face. (this English video course is now available here) I am already excited about making the next one for you so let me know below what you’d like help with.
Winter Sports
In February my family and I are going on our first proper winter holiday together. Radka can ski but I have two left feet so I will at long last learn how to snowboard. As a teenager, whilst listening to GNR, I skateboarded, so, I believe it will be easier for me than skiing. I should have transferable skills! (update – this was not true and I struggled for two days trying to learn how to move the snowboard where I wanted it to go and yes, I had a lot of trouble trying to get on the ski lift . However, by the end of the week I was going down the piste/ski slope pretty quickly and confidently)
When the snow clears and the weather warms up, we will plant vegetables as we do every year; lettuce, tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, chillis, carrots, parsnips, onions to name a few. We are also planning on buying more hens and increasing our egg production.
So what of this future perfect tense? What is it?
Well, it’s the tense we use to describe a situation in the future when we are imagining that it has already happened. If you know how to use the present perfect then you can imagine that you are using it in the future.
If you don’t know how to use the present perfect then get my free Easy Guide to the Present Perfect here. Send me an email and I’ll send you the guide.
I’ve just written about some of the things I will do this new year. If I imagine that it is the end of the year and I have done all of these things, I could then say to you now, that, by the end of the year, I will have learnt to snowboard, I will have been to see Guns ‘n’ Roses, I will have planted a lot of vegetables and I will have produced more video courses to help all my Czech and Slovak friends with their English.
How to Form the Future Perfect Tense in English
The future perfect is will + have + past particple.
When I am 50, I will have lived for 50 years.
By the end of January I will have finished my video course.
If Sparta win the football league this season, they will have won 37 titles in their history.
I have too much still to do, so I won’t have completed it by next Friday.
Will you have arrived before I get there?
When you get to the end of this blog post you will have read it all.
What will you have done by the end of this year? Let me know in the comments below. Next week I have a treat for you… I will be writing to you in Czech ! Well, my own version of Czech anyway. Remember, if you think this post can help a friend then please forward them a link and if it has helped you then please tell me by leaving me a comment below.
Ahoj Richard, great post.
In sentences as such I would never use WILL but WOULD so it is good to know, e.g. By the end of the year I would have planted some vegetables.
I think I often stick WOULD into places where something else should be:-). Could you please send me the guide?
Maybe by the end of this year I will have learnt using more than 3 tenses:-)))
Thank you!
Vendula