Welcome to the future. This is the final post in the series on English tenses. The future tenses can be confusing, particularly the ones that concern ordering events that haven’t happened yet. Hopefully, this document will help you use and understand the nuances of future tenses in English.

Simple Future

The simple future tense is used to describe events that have not yet happened,

Conjugation

This tense is formulated by putting ‘will’ in front of the root form of the verb. For negative phrases, the word ‘not’ is included between ‘will’ and the verb.

Verb: Eat

Singular

First-person: I will eat.
Second-person: You will eat.
Third-person: They will eat.
Third-person: He/She/It will eat.

Plural

First-person: We will eat.
Second-person: You will eat.
Third-person: They will eat.

Examples:

I will read many articles.
You will not feel ill anymore in a few hours.

In the first example, I use the I conjugation of the verb ‘feel’ in the simple future tense to describe a future action.

In the second example, I use the ‘you’ conjugation of the verb ‘attend’ in the negative in the simple future tense to describe a future state.

Future Perfect

The future perfect tense is used to describe a future action or state terminated sometime before another future event. Like other perfect tenses, it is used to order events in time.

Conjugation

This tense is formulated by taking the words ‘will have’ and placing them in front of the past participle of the verb. For negative phrases, the term ‘not’ is included between ‘will’ and ‘have.’

Verb: Talk

Singular

First-person: I will have talked.
Second-person: You will have talked.
Third-person: They will have talked.
Third-person: He/She/It will have talked.

Plural

First-person: We will have talked.
Second-person: You will have talked.
Third-person: They will have talked.

Examples:

They will have finished the report by the end of the day.
She will not have entered the building yet.

In the first example, I use the singular ‘they’ conjugation of the verb ‘finish’ in the future perfect tense to describe an action that will finish before some point in the future.

In the second example, I use the he/she/it conjugation of the verb ‘enter’ in the negative future perfect tense to describe a state that will not occur before a given point in the future.

Incorrect Example:

We will have walked to the store this afternoon.

This example uses a specific time in the past (afternoon) not to use the future perfect structure. Instead, it would use the simple future tense.

Future Continuous

Also referred to as the future progressive tense, future continuous is used to describe an action that will be ongoing at some future time.

Conjugation

This tense is formulated using the words ‘will be’ in front of the verb’s present participle. For negative phrases, the term ‘not’ is included between ‘will’ and ‘be.’

Verb: Work

Singular

First-person: I will be working.
Second-person: You will be working.
Third-person: They will be working.
Third-person: He/She/It will be working.

Plural

First-person: We will be working.
Second-person: You will be working.
Third-person: They will be working.

Examples:

He will be defending his thesis this month.
They will be spending the next five weeks on a field research trip.

In the first example, I use the he/she/it conjugation of the verb ‘defend’ in the future continuous tense to describe a state that will occur continuously in the future.

In the second example, I use the plural ‘they’ conjugation of the verb ‘spend’ in the future continuous tense to describe the same kind of situation.

Future Perfect Continuous

Like with the other compound tenses, future perfect continuous is just a combination of the future perfect tense and the future continuous tense. This means it describes an action that will occur continuously at some point in the future but end before a separate future event.

Conjugation

This tense is formulated by placing ‘will have been’ in front of the verb’s present participle. For negative phrases, the word ‘not’ is included between ‘will’ and ‘have.’

Verb: Sit

Singular

First-person: I will have been sitting.
Second-person: You will have been sitting.
Third-person: They will have been sitting.
Third-person: He/She/It will have been sitting.

Plural

First-person: We will have been sitting.
Second-person: You will have been sitting.
Third-person: They will have been sitting.

Examples:

In June, we will have been monitoring the patient progress for six months.
At this time next year, he will have been working at the company for over a decade.

In the first example, I use the first-person plural conjugation of the verb ‘monitor’ in the future perfect continuous tense to describe an ongoing future condition with a set end date.

In the second example, I use the he/she/it conjugation of the verb ‘work’ in the future perfect continuous tense to describe the same kind of situation.

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