Istanbul is currently home to one of the world’s most ambitious engineering projects: the Kanal İstanbul, a 45-kilometre artificial waterway that will eventually link the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. By the time it is finished, thousands of engineers will have spent years reshaping the landscape of an entire continent. That combination — a completed action and an ongoing process, both anchored in the future — is exactly what the future perfect and the future continuous are built to express.
Two futures, one question: which do you need?
At C1 level you are expected to move beyond “will + infinitive” and choose the right future form with precision. The future perfect and the future continuous are two of the most powerful tools you have, and they answer different questions:
Future continuous
Will something be in progress at a specific future moment?
Use this for an action that will be ongoing at a particular time.
“This time next year, engineers will be drilling through the Thracian hills.”
Future perfect
Will something be finished before a specific future moment?
Use this for an action that will be completed before a deadline.
“By 2030, the canal will have transformed Turkish shipping.”
Formation at a glance
Future continuous: will + be + verb-ing
| Subject | Auxiliary | be | Main verb (-ing) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I / You / He / She / It / We / They | will | be | working / travelling / exploring |
| Negative: will not be working | Question: Will you be working…? | |||
Future perfect: will + have + past participle
| Subject | Auxiliary | have | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| I / You / He / She / It / We / They | will | have | completed / built / attracted |
| Negative: will not have completed | Question: Will they have finished…? | |||
The crucial difference: in progress vs completed
The simplest test is to ask yourself: at the future moment, is the action still happening or already done?
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| In 2027, Turkey will be building new hotels along the canal route. | The construction is in progress at that moment. |
| By 2030, Turkey will have built over 160 new hotels. | The construction is finished before that deadline. |
Notice that both sentences can be true — building is ongoing in 2027, but complete by 2030. That is perfectly natural English at C1 level.
Turkey in the future: CLIL context
Let us anchor these grammar forms in real, verifiable facts about Turkey. This is where the language becomes memorable — not because of abstract rules, but because the context is genuinely interesting.
The Istanbul Canal. Kanal İstanbul is a planned 45–50 km artificial waterway designed to connect the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, running parallel to the Bosphorus Strait. Construction formally began in June 2021 and is projected to take approximately seven years. If the schedule holds, by 2028 workers will have cut an entirely new sea passage through East Thrace. In the meantime, in any given year between now and then, thousands of engineers will be working around the clock on one of the largest infrastructure projects in modern history.
Tourism on the rise. Turkey attracted 52.6 million international visitors in 2024 — a record figure. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, travel and tourism will have contributed the equivalent of 12% of Turkey’s GDP by the end of 2025, supporting more than 3.3 million jobs. At almost any time you visit Istanbul, Antalya or Cappadocia, visitors from dozens of countries will be exploring ancient sites, coastal resorts and mountain landscapes simultaneously.
Göbekli Tepe — the world’s oldest temple. In south-eastern Turkey lies Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site dating to approximately 9,600 BCE — making it the oldest known temple complex on Earth, predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years. By the time a new generation of archaeologists completes the excavation, researchers will have been studying the site for well over half a century. (That third form — the future perfect continuous — is a C1+ extension we will return to at the end.)
A city on two continents. Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles two continents: Europe on the western bank of the Bosphorus, Asia on the eastern bank. If you take the ferry across the strait, for the seven-minute crossing you will be travelling between two continents — a unique experience that will have surprised most first-time visitors before they have even reached the far shore.
Energy investment. Turkey has announced plans to invest approximately $30 billion in electricity transmission infrastructure between 2026 and 2035. By 2035, Turkey will have expanded its grid fivefold compared to its current capacity. In the interim, construction crews will be laying new cable across both the European and Asian parts of the country for the better part of a decade.
A quick note on future perfect continuous
At C1 you should also know the future perfect continuous (will have been + -ing), which emphasises the duration of an activity up to a future point:
Form: will + have been + verb-ing
“By the time the canal opens, archaeologists at Göbekli Tepe will have been excavating the site for more than forty years.”
Use it when duration matters as much as completion — compare with: “By then, they will have excavated most of the site” (focus on the result).
Common mistakes for Spanish speakers
Watch out for these
✅ “By 2030, Turkey will have completed the canal.”
The auxiliary have is not optional. In Spanish, “habrá completado” makes the auxiliary obvious; in English, learners sometimes drop it entirely, especially in fast speech.
✅ “At this time tomorrow, I will be working in my Istanbul office.”
Spanish uses the simple future (“trabajaré”) for both meanings. English distinguishes: will + infinitive for a decision or prediction, will be + -ing for an activity in progress at a specific future moment.
✅ “By the time we arrive, they will have finished the tour.”
“By the time” signals a completed-before-deadline situation — a direct trigger for the future perfect. The temptation is to use the simple future, but that is grammatically incorrect here in formal English.
✅ “Will they still be building the new bridge when we visit?”
The “-ing” form is obligatory after “will be”. Using the bare infinitive (“build”) is a direct calque of the Spanish gerund structure, but English demands the present participle.
✅ “By 2028, the canal will have already opened.” / “The canal will already be open.”
Learners sometimes fuse the future continuous (“will be”) with a past participle because Spanish “estará abierto” uses estar + adjective. In English, “will be + past participle” produces the passive (“it will be opened”), which has a different meaning. The future perfect is the right choice for a completed state.
Example bank
- By the time the Kanal İstanbul opens, engineers will have spent more than seven years on the project.
- This time next summer, thousands of tourists will be swimming in the turquoise waters of the Aegean coast.
- By 2035, Turkey will have invested $30 billion in new electricity transmission infrastructure.
- When you reach the top of the Galata Tower, you will have climbed over 140 steps.
- In 2027, archaeologists at Göbekli Tepe will still be uncovering new chambers at the site.
- By the end of this decade, Turkey will have welcomed well over half a billion international visitors in total.
- At this time tomorrow, our guide will be explaining the Ottoman history of the Topkapı Palace.
- Will you have visited Istanbul before the conference begins?
- By the time the ferry crosses the Bosphorus, we will have travelled from Europe to Asia in under ten minutes.
- In 2030, Istanbul’s new metro lines will be carrying millions of passengers across both sides of the city.
- By next spring, the government will have approved all the environmental assessments for the canal.
- Won’t the construction crews have finished the coastal highway by the time the season starts?
- At this point in history, Istanbul will have been a great city for more than 2,600 years.
- By the time you read this, Turkey will have attracted its fifty-millionth visitor of the year.
- Tomorrow afternoon, our group will be exploring the Grand Bazaar — one of the largest covered markets on Earth.
- By 2040, renewable energy sources will have replaced most of Turkey’s coal-fired power stations.
Quick practice quiz
Choose the correct future form. Answers below.
- By the time we land in Istanbul, our guide ________ at the airport for two hours. (wait)
a) will wait b) will be waiting c) will have been waiting - This time next year, workers ________ the last section of the canal. (still / dig)
a) will have dug b) will still be digging c) will dig - By 2030, Turkey ________ more than 160 new hotels. (build)
a) will build b) will be building c) will have built - When the Bosphorus ferry arrives, I ________ the trip to two continents. (complete)
a) will complete b) will have completed c) will be completing - At this moment next Friday, we ________ through the Grand Bazaar. (wander)
a) will have wandered b) will wander c) will be wandering
Show answers
- c) will have been waiting — duration up to a future point (future perfect continuous). The guide started waiting before we land and that duration is the focus.
- b) will still be digging — an action in progress at a future time; “still” reinforces it is ongoing.
- c) will have built — completed before the deadline of 2030 (future perfect, triggered by “by”).
- b) will have completed — completed before the moment of arrival (future perfect with “when”).
- c) will be wandering — in progress at a specific future moment (“at this moment next Friday”).
Grammar
Future perfect
Future continuous
Turkey