People feel interest; subjects or experiences can cause that feeling.

The idea

Use interested in with a noun or an -ing form for the subject of someone’s interest. Use interesting to with a person for the person who finds something engaging.

Examples

  • Maya is interested in urban gardens.
  • The exhibition is interesting to our neighbours.
  • I am interested in learning how bees communicate.
  • That old map is interesting to the children.
  • Our guide was interested in the local stories.
  • The idea sounds interesting to me.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic English voice on your device. Quality and availability vary; it does not assess pronunciation.

Watch out

Do not say I am interesting in music when you mean that music interests you: use interested in. A person can also be interesting if they hold others’ attention.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the correct option. Lena is ___ astronomy. (interested in / interesting to)

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    interested in

    interested in: Lena is the person who has the interest.

  2. Choose the correct option. The museum is ___ my brother. (interested in / interesting to)

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    interesting to

    interesting to: the museum holds her brother’s attention.

  3. Choose the correct option. We are interested in ___ pottery. (making / make)

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    making

    making: after the preposition in, use the gerund.

Use it today

Describe a subject you are interested in and something interesting to someone you know.