Future Perfect Progressive Tense in English

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to use the future perfect progressive tense to describe ongoing actions or events that will continue up to a specific point in the future. This tense helps you understand how to talk about actions that will have been happening for a certain duration by a given time. Whether you’re talking about a project, a task, or any long-term activity, mastering the future perfect progressive tense will improve your English communication skills effectively.

Table of Contents

Future Perfect Progressive Tense

When you want to talk about something that is happening right now or something that happens regularly and will keep going until a certain point in the future, you use the future perfect progressive tense.

For a regular or habitual action: In October, we will have been commuting together for twenty years.
This means that by the time October comes, the habit of commuting will have been happening for 20 years.

For something ongoing: By that time, the temperature will have been increasing steadily for five years.
This shows that the increase in temperature has been happening and will continue to happen for five years by a certain point in the future.

The future perfect progressive is made up of three helping words: will, have, and be, plus the main action word ending in -ing. First, you use will and have, then the word been, and finally the -ing form of the main action word.

	Singular	Plural
First Person	I will have been verb + ing	we will have been verb + ing
Second Person	you will have been verb + ing	you will have been verb + ing
Third Person	he, she, it will have been verb + ing	they will have been verb + ing

Forming Negatives in the Future Perfect Progressive Tense

To make a sentence negative in the future perfect progressive tense, you simply place the word “not” after the auxiliary verb “will.”

For example:

will not have been going

Here’s how it looks in a sentence:

Positive:

By next year, they will have been studying for five years.

Negative:

By next year, they will not have been studying for five years.

How it works:

Start with will.
Add not after will to make it negative.
Use have and been after not.
Finish with the -ing form of the main verb.

Using Contractions in the Future Perfect Progressive Tense

Contractions are often made by combining pronouns with the helping verb “will”, or by combining “will” with “not.” You’ll often hear these contractions in everyday conversations or see them in casual writing. However, they are rarely used in formal writing or situations.

Here are some examples:

Positive Contractions:

I will becomes I’ll
You will becomes You’ll
They will becomes They’ll

Negative Contractions:

Will not becomes Won’t (Notice how the letter i in will changes to o in won’t.)

Example Sentences:

Without contraction: I will have been working here for 10 years by next month.
With contraction: I’ll have been working here for 10 years by next month.
Without contraction: They will not have been practicing for long by then.
With contraction: They won’t have been practicing for long by then.

I’ll have been going	I won’t have been going
You’ll have been going	You won’t have been going
He’ll have been going	He won’t have been going
She’ll have been going	She won’t have been going
It’ll have been going	It won’t have been going
We’ll have been going	We won’t have been going
They’ll have been going	They won’t have been going

Forming Wh-Questions in the Future Perfect Progressive Tense

In wh-questions, when the wh-word (who, what, when, where, why, how) is the subject of the sentence, the structure of the question looks similar to a statement. You simply replace the subject with the question word without changing the order of the auxiliary verbs.

Example:

Statement:

When the project is finished, Cheryl will have been working more than anybody else.

Wh-question:

When the project is finished, who will have been working more than anybody else?

Here’s a simple guide:

Start with the wh-word (who, what, when, etc.).
Follow with the subject or replace the subject with the wh-word if it is unknown.
Use will, have, and been with the -ing form of the main verb, just like in a statement.

Example of More Wh-Questions:

Statement: By the end of the year, they will have been living here for ten years.
Wh-question: By the end of the year, how long will they have been living here?