By the time means “before or at the moment that” something else happens. It shows that one event has already happened, or will have happened, before another: By the time we arrived, the film had started. When you talk about the future, use the present tense after by the time and keep will for the other part only: By the time you get home, I'll be asleep.
How would you use by the time?
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By the time + past simple, + past perfect; By the time + present simple, + will + verb; clause + by the time + clause
- By the time I got to the station, the last train had already left.
- By the time you read this email, I'll be on the plane to Rome.
- The paint should be dry by the time the guests arrive.
What changed
First versionBy the time we will get there, the shop will be closed.
RevisionBy the time we get there, the shop will be closed.
The sentence is about the future, so will seems natural in both parts. But after by the time, as after when and before, the future is expressed with the present tense: we get there. Will was removed from this part only; it stays in the other one.
Until means “up to a certain moment”: the action continues right up to that point. I waited until the shop opened. By the time looks at the result at that point: By the time the shop opened, a long queue had formed. When puts events side by side: When we arrived, the film started means the film began just as we came in.
Your turn
___ the taxi came, we had already been waiting for forty minutes.
Show the answer
By the time — When the taxi came, the wait had already lasted forty minutes, and already stresses the result at that moment. That kind of result is introduced by By the time. Until says how long something continued and doesn't go with already here.
Describe a time you were late: say where you got to and what had already happened by then. Use By the time.
By the time I reached the conference hall, the first speaker had already finished his talk.
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