[Grammar] Future Perfective

"If he keeps up his spending habits, he will have been $100,000 in debt."

If I take that sentence and claim his father said that, then:

"His father said If he keeps/kept up his spending habits, he will/would have been $100,000 in debt."

What should I do with "keep/kept" and "will/would"?

The verb tenses in both clauses must agree in time:


If he keeps up his spending habits, he will be $100,000 in debt."

So, either of,

"His father said If he keeps up his spending habits, he will have been $100,000 in debt."

"His father said If he kept up his spending habits, he would have been $100,000 in debt."

is okay?

bobmail1 said:

So, either of,

"His father said If he keeps up his spending habits, he will have been $100,000 in debt."

"His father said If he kept up his spending habits, he would have been $100,000 in debt."

is okay?

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Hi bob, and welcome to the forums.

For the first, it must be "...habits, he will be $100,000..."

For the second, I would have written "... if he had kept up his ..." but conditionals are not my strong suit. (I am not very good at them.) It's possible your way without the past perfect is okay too.

bobmail1 said:

"If he keeps up his spending habits, he will have been $100,000 in debt."

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I agree with Barb: that sentence is not natural. Only 'will be' works in the sentence as it stands.

Reporting this, we end up with either:His father said (that) if he keeps up....,he will be ...
or: His father said that if he kept up ... he would be...

Both are possible.


His father said that he he had kept up .... he would be/would have been... . This is possible, but reports different sentences from the one we considered originally.

So, future perfect doesn't exist in modern English?

bobmail1 said:

So, future perfect doesn't exist in modern English?

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Nobody said that.

By the time I go to bed this evening, I will have written ten more posts.

Note that it is used for a time period that extends up to a future time, and an action completed during that time.

5jj said:

Nobody said that.

By the time I go to bed this evening, I will have written ten more posts.

Note that it is used for a time period that extends up to a future time, and an action completed during that time.

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Does a past tense version of future perfect exist?

bobmail1 said:

Does a past tense version of future perfect exist?

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Jagger settled on the island in 1832. Within ten years he would father thirteen children.

It's possible to say, "... he would have fathered thirteen children". A 'future perfect in the past' is rare. Because it is in the past, a 'future in the past' is sufficient.