Hear and Listen

These two verbs can be easily mixed up. Can you keep them straight? Complete the following sentence to make it correct:

Students, please stop talking and hear / listen to me! I’m trying to answer Jeffrey’s question about the past perfect.

The sentence above should read “Students, please stop talking and listen to me!…” The following explanations should make the difference clearer to you.

Hear

If you hear something, it just means that some sound is going into your ears. It is not something active. Here are a few examples for you:

· Did you hear that sound outside? Was it a cat?

· Patrick heard the police sirens from his office.

Listen (to)

If you listen to something, it is active. You are focusing on or giving attention to someone or something in order to hear something. Here are a few examples:

· Okay everyone, listen to this short interview and then we will discuss it.

· Tom listened carefully to the noise and realised that someone was in the office next door.

Please note: We ALWAYS say that we listen to a CD, the radio, etc., even though this could be seen as passive listening.

· What kind of music do you listen to?

· Ruth was listening to the radio when her phone rang.