Do hear and listen have the same meaning? Should I use them in different
situations? That’s what I’m going to show you today in this video.
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The verbs hear and listen are often confused by English students. So let’s learn the
difference between them. Let’s start with the verb Hear – Hear
is an irregular verb. So the simple past of the verb hear is heard and the past participle is Heard
again The verb “hear” gives the idea of perceiving
a sound made by someone or something around you. So with your ears you perceive the sound,
you hear the sound. It is very related to the ability that we have. So for example,
if you are talking to someone and there was some noise you couldn’t understand, you
could not “hear”, what the person was saying. You can tell this person, sorry I
can’t hear you. Another common mistake students make when they are using the verb
hear is to use hear in the gerund form. For example: I’m not hearing you.,
Another possible meaning for the verb “hear” is when you are told something (that means
when someone tells you something when you are informed of something. For example, I
heard John got promoted. – maybe you talked to someone at work and this person told you
about this news. Now you are talking to somebody else and you want to mention this news, so
you should say: I heard John got promoted. And finally another possible meaning for the
verb hear which is very similar to the previous one is when you become aware of something,
when you understand, when you know the existence of something. For example you saw on TV that
a famous soccer player is retiring, not playing soccer anymore. So you can say: I hear that
Cristiano Ronaldo is retiring. Another example:
Did you hear the news? That famous singer was in a car accident.
Now, let’s take a look at the verb listen. Listen is a regular verb, ok? So both the
past form and the past participle form will be “listened”. The “t” in the verb
listen is not pronounced, it is silent. So you should say listen “t” - When you use
the verb listen you are giving the idea that you are paying attention at the sound, not
just the ability of your ears, but you are paying attention. You pay attention and act
on what a person is saying to you. You are making an effort to hear what the other person
is. You are alert and ready to hear that sound. For example, Are you listening to me right
now? I mean, are you alert? are you paying attention at what I’m saying?
Another example; Jack never listens to me. In this case, I
mean he never pays attention, he never responds to my requests.
Another important thing about the verb “listen” is the use of the preposition “TO” whenever
there is an object after the verb “listen” and this is something students usually forget.
Take a look at some examples. I listen to music
You listen to the radio You listen to the teacher
You listen to the news You listen to people
I’m listening to you So you need the preposition to, ok?
Now I have an exercise for you: I want you to write two sentences, one with the verb
“hear” and one with the verb “listen” here in the comments.
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your friends, why not! Thanks guys and I’ll see you next time!
Bye!