These words are similar enough that they sometimes cause confusion. But as we’ll see, it often depends on what our eyes are focused on that will determine which to use.
Watch
When we watch something, it usually means that the object is moving or changing in some way, and our full attention is on it for a period of time. There is usually something about the object that draws our attention for a few seconds, or even hours. Here are some examples:
- We watched the football match last week.
- We were so tired last night that we sat all evening on the couch and watched TV.
- We watched the cat giving birth to a litter of kittens.
- She watched her son’s piano recital.
- We sat at the airport and watched planes land.
- During vacation, we would watch the sunrise every morning.
Look
When we look at something, it usually means either of these two things:
- The object isn’t moving.
- We don’t focus our eyes on it for a long time, maybe only a few seconds.
We often use “look” to tell people to “watch” something briefly. Here are some examples:
- Look at the sky – there is a double rainbow!
- Look at that man loading groceries into his car. I wonder if he needs help.
- Look at the price tag. We can’t afford that.
- Look at that kid swimming. He is very fast.
MOST of the time the verb “look” is followed by “at”, but not always, especially in the case of commands:
- Don’t look. I’m changing my clothes.
- Look! An eagle just grabbed a fish out of the lake.
See
This verb often has more to do with the perceiving or noticing something. For example:
- He didn’t see if the neighbors arrived home yet.
- I saw the mailman come early today.
- I see dark clouds in the sky; I hope it won’t rain soon.
- I see that you brought your dog to the party, even though I told you not to.
- Did you see it? There was just a shooting star in the sky.
Sometimes “see” can be used to mean “understand”:
- Ah, ok. I see. Now I get it. (Now I understand.)
- I see why you like her – she is great.
- I don’t see why we have to return to the office when we can do our jobs well from home. (A fun note: In English we don’t use the word “Home Office” as in many European languages. We just say “to work from home” or “to telecommute”.)
“Watch” out! Sometimes they are interchangeable.
It can be confusing because sometimes “see” and “watch” can be used interchangeably:
- We watched the movie last night.
- We saw the movie last night.
These sentences are VERY similar. There is perhaps a very subtle difference here, though:
- “We watched the movie last night” is describing the activity that we did yesterday.
- “We saw the movie last night” might be telling the person that you have already seen the movie and don’t need to hear more about it or see it again.
Here is an example conversation to put these both in context:
- What did you do last night? We tried calling you, but you didn’t answer.
- Oh – we had our phones turned off. We were watching a movie.
- Do you want to come over tonight? We can watch Sleepless In Seattle on Netflix.
- No thanks. I saw it in 1993 and didn’t really like it.
A silly story with a ton of examples
Here is a short (extremely captivating! 😉) story that illustrates these words in context:
One day John decided to go to a baseball game. He hadn’t seen any games yet this year, and wanted to watch one with his son, Bob. When they arrived at the stadium, they saw a lot of people waiting outside. It was so crowded they couldn’t see the entrance. “Do you see the entrance anywhere?” John asked Bob. “No, but I’ll help you look for it” answered Bob.
After 15 minutes John lost his patience and said, “We have been looking but haven’t found it for 20 minutes.”. Suddenly Bob said “Look! There it is.” Relieved, John said “Ok, great! I see it.”
Once they found their seats, they watched the players warm up. Finally, the game started. Bob asked his dad, “Is this player good?” John replied, “Look at the scoreboard and you will see the statistics for each player.” Bob had fun watching the statistics change on the scoreboard as a new player appeared on the field.
Bob was so busy looking at the statistics that he forgot to watch the game. Suddenly a ball came flying toward them. “Look out* for the ball!” His dad yelled. Bob jumped out of his seat and dodged the ball at the last second. “Wow – that was scary!” said Bob. “I didn’t even see that coming. I better watch the game more carefully!”
* Note that “look out” is a phrasal verb, and you can replace this also with “watch out”.
