heron

A quick question regarding the correct grammar in the following sentence. What's the difference between a sign saying "we look forward to see you again" and "we look forward to seeing you again".

Had a discussion about it the other night, and as a non-native I couldn't really tell which one is correct, or what the difference in meaning is if both are correct.

Any explanations?

Rocky Rockstar

the 2nd one is correct.

Pickles

the first one doesn't actually make sense. it's how a Japanese person would say the second one

jerleat

Yeah, what they say.

Rocky Rockstar

but oddly enough if "look forward" was changed to "would like" then the 1st one would be correct.

jerleat

Now you're just confuse him :thdn:

buzzer

because that's a different tense

Rb

The ing means you're going to see them.

Just see means you are looking at them now, which even if you are, doesnt mean you're seeing them now in the future...


Hell im confused now.

Retro

-ing on the end changes the verb "to see" into a noun, the act of seeing.

"look [forward]" is a verb, so to match it with another verb (to see) before the 'target' noun wouldn't make sense.

Like (as in Would Like) is transitive verb, so can be matched with a normal verb.

Thank god we English speakers learn these 'rules' naturally when we're children. What a nightmare.

heron

Well, thanks all for the explanations. It's clear to me now. Especially since in the aforementioned discussion, I was right

These small things really are the difference between mastering a language and being a native speaker.