Will Have vs Will Have Been: Difference and Comparison

In the world of English, grammar plays an important role. Without grammar, we cannot understand the basis of a sentence, phrase, or meaning.

Tense is one such category of grammar that tells us about the period that whether something is happening in the past, present or future. Tenses tell us about the action when we speak related to time.

Two tenses used in ‘will have‘ and ‘will have been’ are Future Perfect and Future Perfect Continuous Tenses.

Key Takeaways

1. Will have is used to talk about a future event that will be completed by a particular time, while will have been used to describe the duration of an action up to a particular time.
2. Will have is constructed with the auxiliary verb “will” and the past participle, while will have been constructed with the auxiliary verb “will have” and the present participle.
3. For example, “I will have finished my assignment by tomorrow” uses “will have” to talk about completing the assignment, while “I will have been studying for five hours by 6 pm” uses “will have been” to describe the duration of studying.

Will Have vs Will Have Been

“Will have” is used to communicate that future action will occur before the specified time. E.g., she will have left by 10 pm. While The phrase “will have been” is used to indicate how long an action lasted up until a specific moment. For e.g., I will have been skating for one hour by 10pm.

‘Will have’ is the Future Perfect Tense. It consists of two things: first is the simple future tense, i.e. ‘will have, and the second is the past participle of the main verb.

For example, I+ will have+ past participle, i.e. I will have finished.

‘Will Have Been’ is the Future Perfect Continuous Tense. It also consists of two main things: the future perfect, i.e. ‘will have been’, and the present participle (base form + ing).

For example, I +will have been+ present participle, i.e. I will have been playing.

Comparison Table

Parameter of Comparison	Will Have	Will Have Been
Tense	Future Perfect Tense	Future Perfect Continuous Tense
Verb	Simple Future of the verb, i.e. ‘to have	Future Perfect of the Verb, i.e. ‘to be.’
Participle	Past Participle of the main verb	Present Participle of the main verb (base form + ing)
Function	It tells us about the action which is completed in the future.	It tells us about the incomplete action that will be completed in the future.
Example	By the time you cook food this, Aman will have left.	When Sujata finishes this course, she will have been learning Spanish for twenty years.

What is Will Have?

When we see ‘will have’ in a sentence, we should know that it tells us about future actions. Action which will be completed when we will reach in future. At some point in future, it will be finished.

For example, Mary will have baked a cake. When we use future Perfect Tense, it denotes the expression of time, which tells us about the point of time.

For example, Mary will have baked a cake before you arrive.

The Future Perfect Tense is formed by using the verb’s subject + ‘will have’ + past participle. Whether the subject is singular or plural, it doesn’t change.

If the verb is regular, then the past participle is the same as the simple past tense. Sometimes we can use Future Perfect Tense and Simple Future Tense by changing their place. 

As jump > jumped, dance> danced. Future Perfect Tense can be used in four types of sentences: Affirmative, Interrogative, Negative and Negative Interrogative. 

Whenever we use Future Perfect, we have to mention a point of time we have to set a limit; otherwise, it is futile to use it. A moment in time can be specific or unspecific, but we have to mention some time in future. 

What is Will Have Been? 

Will have been having a future perfect continuous tense, and its purpose is to take us to the future, i.e. ahead in time and then from the future, we have to look back in the past.

It tells us about an unfinished situation that will be finished in the future. It is used to tell a time expression.

The action shows us that it may have started in the past, present or future and will continue in the future. It is expected that the event will continue in future.

It has a form of will+ have been+ present participle (base form+ ing). Future Perfect Continuous also has cause and effect.

For example, Tania will be tired when she gets home because she will have been jogging for over an hour.

We should be careful between future continuous and future perfect continuous otherwise, the sentence’s meaning would be changed.

It cannot be used in the sentences or phrases such as: when, while, before, after, by the time, as soon as, if, unless, etc. 

Main Differences Between Will Have and Will Have Been

1. Will is a Future Perfect Tense, whereas will be a Future Perfect Continuous Tense.
2. The verb used in ‘will have’ is Simple Future, and the verb used in ‘will have been’ is Future Perfect, and will have & will have been both have a subject + the form + participle.
3. ‘Will have’ use the past participle of the main verb. ‘Will have been’ use the present participle of the main verb ( base form+ing).
4. Future Perfect tense tells us about the action completed in the future. Future Perfect Continuous Tense tells us about the incomplete action that will be completed in the future.
5. For example, I will have played in the park. I will have been playing in the park since evening.

Last Updated : 11 June, 2023