Does ‘I’ll See How I Go’ Mean Yes—or Not Yet?

Why Do Australians Say It This Way? · Season Two: After the Words · Article 13

On Friday afternoon, someone asks:

Are you coming to the barbecue tomorrow?
I’ll see how I go.

A learner may hear the future form I’ll and assume that some kind of promise has been made. The answer may even sound like “I will see how to get there”. By the next day, however, it becomes clear that the speaker neither accepted the invitation nor formally declined it.

In everyday Australian English, I’ll see how I go commonly means that the speaker cannot decide yet. They will wait to find out how they feel, how much work remains, how their time develops, or how some other situation unfolds. The possibility stays open, but the commitment has not been made.

The decision has been handed to circumstances that have not happened yet

How I go is not about transport here. It concerns how the speaker is doing or how events progress. They may be recovering from an illness, waiting to learn their weekend workload, or unsure when a child’s sporting event will finish. The uncertainty can be perfectly genuine: the person does not yet possess the information needed for a reliable answer.

Examples appear in Australian natural-speech records. In an Australians at War Film Archive transcript, a speaker says he will “see how I go along here for a day or so” before deciding whether to remain. In another Australian interview transcript, a person discussing travel and finding work says, we’ll see how that goes. In both cases, see is not passive observation. It is waiting for reality to supply the basis for the next decision.

The construction is not uniquely Australian. English we’ll see can itself mean “we will decide later”; Collins records that meaning directly. What feels locally familiar is the ease with which Australian speakers use the expression in casual talk and the personal-progress framing of how I go. Labelling every occurrence an exclusive piece of Australian slang would overstate the evidence.

It can be honest uncertainty—or a gentle “probably not”

The same sentence can lead in at least two directions.

The first is genuinely unresolved: I’ve got a headache. I’ll see how I go in the morning. If the speaker recovers, they may attend. They often give a concrete reason for the uncertainty and may promise to confirm later.

The second use approaches a soft refusal. A specific invitation is offered; the other person does not ask about the time, location or arrangements, says only I’ll see how I go, and never follows up. The phrase has prevented an abrupt no, but it has not given the host a dependable guest number.

The words alone cannot distinguish these readings. Look for a specific reason, signs of interest, and a defined follow-up. I’ll let you know by ten tomorrow creates a very different level of reliability from an isolated see how I go.

This is why the expression is worth learning as interaction rather than vocabulary. Its grammar points towards the future, but its immediate job is to manage the present relationship. The speaker withholds commitment without closing the encounter with a direct refusal. If the listener treats polite openness as half a yes, the result is a false expectation.

How to respond without waiting indefinitely

An ordinary social invitation does not require cross-examination. No worries—just let me know tomorrow may be enough. If catering, seats or transport require a final number, state the real constraint: Could you let me know by 10 am? We need final numbers. That is not a failure to be relaxed. It makes the practical condition visible.

The uncertain speaker can also be clearer. If you genuinely want to attend but do not know how you will feel, say:

I’d like to come, but I’m not sure how I’ll feel. I’ll confirm by nine tomorrow.

If attendance is actually unlikely, I probably won’t make it, but I’ll let you know if that changes is often kinder than asking somebody to hold a place indefinitely.

At work, I’ll see how I go should never be treated as a delivery commitment. If a manager asks whether a report will be completed by Wednesday, the phrase establishes only that the result is uncertain. The parties still need to identify obstacles, the likely completion time and the next update point. A relaxed tone may remain; project dependencies cannot be left to inference.

Listen for the arrangement that follows

The central meaning of I’ll see how I go is neither yes nor no. It is “I am not making the final decision now”. Sometimes that is candid uncertainty and sometimes it is a tactful way of lowering expectations. In either case, it should not automatically be counted as confirmed attendance, scheduled work or any other commitment on which others depend.

The best evidence lies after the phrase: who will make contact again, when they will do it, and what condition will change the answer. If none of those things has been established, the safest interpretation is simple. The possibility remains; the promise does not yet exist.

Primary sources and further reading

• Collins Dictionary, “we’ll see”
• Australians at War Film Archive, oral-history transcript
• University of Wollongong research transcript containing “we’ll see how that goes”

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Continue reading: Why Do Australians Say It This Way? — series overview