Hi @Petri_Wilson72, could you edit this message of yours: A general chat topic for English ?
Now it has your email, and some other stuff you shouldn’t post in a public forum.
To edit the post, click on the pencil below it. When you hover over the pencil you will see a pop-up “edit this post”.
hi @petri_wilson72!
if you are answering through email be sure to uncheck any box that sends
your personal information to public forum
I would like to always know the difference between those two sentences.
I would have used only the second one. I’m looking forward to see you
so @alanh would you answer it here
Hi @Atikker,
Sure. Here is my PM reply to Petri_Wilson72:
"Actually, both sentences are correct and basically have the same meaning. There is just a difference in the tense. I needed to do a little research to find a (hopefully) clear explanation:
“We look forward to meeting you” is using the simple present tense. You are stating the simple fact that you are looking forward to meeting the person [whenever that event is going to take place].
“We’re [we are] looking forward to seeing you” is using the present progressive [also called present continuous] tense. This tense is used to indicate that an action is occurring right now and is continuing to take place. This sentence, therefore, also means you are currently looking forward to seeing/meeting the person. The present progressive form is used to indicate that you are feeling pleased and excited about something that is going to happen.
Does that help?"
It is still a bit confusing and the frustrating thing is that it is used in one of the lessons, I am wrong all the time. Well maybe it’s just not my day, hihi.
P.S. In the setiings at the forum I have checked all the boxes because I like to have an email if there is something added on the forum, but I don’t get any email. It’s is really odd. For now I am leaving. Bye bye
is it really to seeing it sounds so weird.
why isn’t infinite form (to see) used here?
Thanks for the link
this site also states that if there is to it should be followed with the infinite form.
I totally understand the difference between like doing and like to do because it translates perfectly to my own language
what I do not understand is why is those two mixed up sentences … to seeing…
Yes. It really is “seeing”. It´s like when you say to someone “see you later”. That means you are going to meet them later, not that you are going to ‘view them from a distance’ later. So, in this context, “see” means “meet” and the two phrases mean pretty much the same thing.
I think these phrases appear in all of the ‘official’ Memrise language courses. I am taking Spanish(Spain) 4, where they appear in Level 9:
“to look forward to …” = “tener ganas de …”
“we’re looking forward to seeing you” = “tenemos ganas de verte”
“we look forward to meeting you” = “tenemos ganas de conocerte”
When I was checking earlier, I found this detailed discussion of the distinction:
https://www.quora.com/Which-is-correct-I-look-forward-to-seeing-you-soon-or-Im-looking-forward-to-seeing-you-soon-Why
Once you remember that “seeing” someone and “meeting” someone means the same thing, I guess it’s not so difficult to remember which verb to use when reviewing these two items.
I actually thought that Petri_Wilson72’s original question was more about the difference between “we look forward…” and “we are looking forward…”. Maybe I was wrong about that.
Thank you for your post. In Estonian we also use see and meet in those cases as interchangeables, the first one is even more casual.
My question arose from the to + ing part
so …the to part goes with forward and does not affect the word seeing?
This is a very good finding. Very throughout. Thanks
Hi @Atikker
Yes. Does it become clearer if you ask yourself “what is it that we are looking forward to”? The answer is “seeing/meeting you”. 
Yes, because I can also say:
I look forward to dinner. or I look forward to vacation. In this case, “seeing” is acting like a noun.
I’ve tried to follow the discussing. Maybe it should be mentioned to Merlijn, because in the lessons it’s confusing. Or both should be accepted. What do you think?
No you are right. There were two sentences in the lesson:
We look forward to meeting you and
We’re looking forward to seeing you.
I got mixed up so I made a mistake and it wasn’t accepted. That’s why I asked you what the difference is.
Actually both should be accepted I think.
so this …
… is not a general question but a specific one from some official english courses?
Yes it is. Sorry didn’t I mention It. iI’ll try to find the lesson if you like.
Yes. You could mention it to Merlijn. It would be best to do that in the course forum though and include a link to this topic so he can see the discussion.
For me, although both those phrases have basically the same meaning, it is ok to have different translations for each because people can say “meeting” or “saying”, so it’s good to learn both versions.
Is it the case that the sentence structures in Dutch make it more of a problem? I don’t know.
