The pattern

"I'm looking forward to" means you are happy about something that is coming. After "to" comes a noun or an -ing verb, never the plain verb: looking forward to the trip, looking forward to seeing you. The "to" is a preposition here, not part of the verb, which is why the -ing form follows it. This is the mistake nearly every learner makes once, and then never again.

The phrase works at both ends of the formality scale. In an email it closes politely: "Looking forward to hearing from you." Among friends it is warm: "I'm so looking forward to Friday."

Say it out loud

Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.

  1. A complete reply on its own. Someone says "See you Saturday", you say "Looking forward to it."

Check yourself

1Which one is correct?
2Someone says "See you at the party on Friday." What is a natural short reply?
3Which sentence shows the phrase is not always positive?

Practice · 3 min

Say what you are looking forward to. Prompt on the left, one natural sentence on the right.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

Say it today

Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.