• an action in progress at a future moment
• an action completed before a future moment
• how long something continues up to a future moment
• a plan or intention in the past that changed
• future meaning inside time clauses without using will

You can also try the mixed future tenses exercises at the end of the lesson if you want more practice!

Advanced future tenses: quick view

Future continuous	An action will be in progress at a future time	I will be driving at that time.
Future perfect	Something will be finished before a future time	We will have arrived by 6pm.
Future perfect continuous	Show how long something continues up to a future point	We will have been driving for 3 hours.
Was / were going to	A past plan/expectation that changed or didn’t happen	I was going to visit you, but I ran out of time.
Future time clauses	Show a future meaning, but the verb looks present	We‘re due to leave at 4pm.

Understanding mixed future tenses and forms

Let’s look in more detail at how mixed future tenses work – and how to use each form.

Future Continuous

Future continuous tense works just like present continuous – we just make it future!

I am working now → I will be working then

Use this to show we’ll be in the middle of an action at a future time.

Examples:

• This time tomorrow, I will be travelling.
• At 10pm tonight, we will be having dinner.
• Don’t call late — they will be sleeping.

Future Perfect Simple

You can use future perfect simple to look forward to a future time — and imagine looking back from it!

Yes, it sounds confusing, but this tense is useful if you want to say that an action will be completed at a point in time in the future.

Examples:

• By Monday, we will have finished the report.
• In 10 years, many jobs will have changed completely.
• By the time you arrive, they will have left.

Signal words: by, before, by the time, in + time period

Future Perfect Continuous

Like future perfect simple, but it is focused on duration, not completion.

Use it to show how long something will have been happening by a point in the future.

Examples:

• By June, I will have been working here 5 years.
• When you land, we will have been waiting for 2 hours.
• Next summer, she will have been studying English for 6 years.

Signal words: for + duration, by + date/time

Was going to (mixed future tense)

We use was/were going to for plans in the past that changed or didn’t happen.

Examples:

• I was going to call you, but I didn’t have time.
• We were going to move, but we stayed instead.
• She was going to start a course, but changed her mind.

Advanced future tenses in context

This monologue shows you how mixed future tense forms might be used in a natural, business context:

This time tomorrow, I’ll be travelling to Manchester for a conference. I’ll be on the train all afternoon, and by the time I arrive, hopefully, my evening meal will have been prepared. I was going to drive, but the traffic would have been awful on a Friday. By next week, I’ll have been working on this project for almost a year, and if everything goes smoothly, I’ll have finished my section before the second day.

Mixed future tenses: mistakes to avoid

Here are some typical errors that learners make when using mixed future tenses:

✘ I’ll work at 3pm tomorrow. → sounds like a decision
✔ I’ll be working at 3pm tomorrow. → in progress at that time

✘ We’ll finish by Monday. → finishing on Monday, not before
✔ We’ll have finished by Monday. → completed earlier

✘ By June, I’ll work here five years. → no duration sense
✔ By June, I’ll have been working here five years.

✘ I was calling you, but I didn’t. → interrupted action
✔ I was going to call you, but didn’t have time.

✘ Once you will finish, we’ll start.
✔ Once you’ve finished, we’ll start.

Mixed future tense exercises

These exercises will help you practise using mixed future tenses correctly in everyday situations: