Master These Four Functions of the Past Future Perfect Tense | Exercises with Answers

In this article, you’ll learn the past future perfect tense, exploring its definition, usage, and function, and also seeing practical examples to help you master this concept.

1. Understanding the Past Future Perfect Tense

The past future perfect tense describes actions that were anticipated to be completed at a certain point in the past, from the perspective of a past moment. It blends the concept of the future perfect tense (will have + past participle) with the past perspective (would have + past participle).

2. Formation of The Past Future Perfect Tense

You can form the past future perfect tense by using the following pattern:

Subject + would have + past participle of the verb

For instance:

She said she would have finished the report by 5 PM yesterday.

Here, “would have finished” indicates that, at a certain past moment, the action of finishing the report was expected to be completed by a specific future point (which is now also in the past).

3. Usage and Functions of the Past Future Perfect Tense