Learn English – Please explain “will have had”

future-perfect

Once I finish this pancake I will have had 5 pancakes.

Would you kindly explain this kind of future perfect?

It's a sort of future retrospective tense, where one is talking about a past tense that has not yet occurred, but is expected to occur. In the case you asked about, it introduces the information that the building does not yet exist, or that some other related event is still yet to take place in the future.

So why do we not say the following instead of the sentence above?

Once I finish this pancake I will have 5 pancakes

Best Answer

Okay, I'll take this context in mind and try to explain building a story.

Will have had simply means that in the future, you'll finish/have something in past! If that makes you confused, let me simplify.

Once I finish this pancake I will have had five pancakes.

It's 5 o'clock in the evening. And up till now you have already finished four pancakes. So, if someone asks you now, how many pancakes you had (up till 5 o'clock)? You'll simply reply - four.

Now, you cannot resist that mouthwatering dish and it's being baked. You'll then say... Once I finish this pancake (pointing at the oven, maybe at 1730 hr), I'll have had five pancakes.

I will - future (1730 hr); have had - go in future and come back as you already finished 4+1=5 pancakes (total pancakes till 1730 hr).