4.4 Future perfect continuous
Form: future perfect continuous
will + have + been + present participle (verb-ing)
The future perfect continuous (also called the future perfect progressive) is formed with the modal will + perfect continuous infinitive without to (have + been + the present participle -ing form of the verb) in all persons.
Affirmative
Subject | Auxiliary | Verb (perfect continuous infinitive) | |
---|---|---|---|
I You He/She/It We You They |
will | have been living | here for five years by then. |
The following contracted forms are often used in spoken and in informal written language:
I will » I'll
you will » you'll
he/she/it will » he'll/she'll/it'll
we will » we'll
you will » you'll
they will » they'll
Negative
Subject | Auxiliary | not | Verb (perfect continuous infinitive) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
I You He/She/It We You They |
will | not | have been living | here for five years by then. |
The contracted form won't is often used instead of will not in spoken and in informal written language.
Interrogative
(Question word) | Auxiliary | Subject | Verb (perfect continuous infinitive) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
How long | will | I you he/she/it we you they |
have been living | here by then? |
Future perfect continuous for continuous events in the future
The future perfect continuous tense is used to express events that will start before a point in time in the future (or have already started) and will still be in progress at that point:
By tomorrow, it will have been raining for four days.
Soon, he'll have been running for 4 hours.