‘interested’ vs ‘interesting’ – NativeSpeakerOnline

One very common mistake that learners make is when they say “I’m interesting” when they should say “I’m interested”. Let’s take a look at these two confusing adjectives.

interested

We use interested when we say that we want to discover more about something. It describes a feeling.

• When he told me about the job offer, I was very interested.
• She’s always been interested in history.
• I’d be interested to hear more about your work.

Notice how we use the adjective interested with the prepositions in (+ noun or verb -ing) and to (+ infinitive). If we use interested with to, we usually say ‘would be interested to …’ (I’d be interested to .., he’d be interested to .., etc.)

interesting

If something is interesting, it keeps our attention. It is basically the opposite of ‘boring‘. The adjective interesting can describe a situation, idea, event or person. Here are some examples:

• It was a very interesting movie. I was on the edge of my seat.
• The football match was very interesting. There was so much action.
• It was interesting to hear what she had to say.

Notice how we use interesting with the preposition to (+ infinitive). In this context, we usually say something is/was/has been etc. interesting to …, for example:

• This show is interesting to watch.
• It must be interesting to travel around the world.
• It was interesting to meet so many people at the conference.

Helpful tip

When you listen to native or fluent speakers, try to notice how they use interested/interesting and also similar pairs of adjectives like bored/boring.