Difference between listen and hear

Listen and Hear. Whats the difference in meaning?

The verbs listen and hear can be confusing for English learners. In this video we learn how English speakers use them and fix some common mistakes.

If the number dialed is busy, you will hear the familiar busy signal.

Hearing is an unconscious act. We dont think about it or want to do it. It just happens when there are sounds. Listening is different because its intentional we decide to pay attention and listen.

Remember, before dialing, listen for dial tone.

So listening is intentional, but hearing happens naturally whether were paying attention or not. If we dont hear something its because the sound isnt reaching our ears.

Can you speak up? I cant hear you very well

And when we ask someone to listen, were asking them to pay attention.

Now listen.
Really?
Let me tell you my plans, and listen with both ears. I have an idea.

Were looking at listen and hear, but there are similar differences between look and see. Look is intentional and see is not. Ive made another video about that. Follow this link to watch it.
So heres a question. Is it possible to listen, but not hear? Well, yes. It happens if were paying attention but the sounds arent reaching our ears.

[Whispering]
I beg your pardon. Im sorry but I didnt quite hear.
I said Im not really having a spell.

And another question. Is it possible to hear but not listen? Yes. You can still hear sounds when youre not paying attention.

This proposal looks interesting.
Yeah, we should arrange to meet these people.
OK.
What do you think Jay? Jay?
Oh, sure.
Do you want me to organize it then?
Yes please. What day works best for you?
Thursday.
OK. Thursday. And Thursday for you too Jay? Jay? Are you listening?
Oh sure, I heard you. Im thirsty too.

So when we listen we pay attention. If we hear the radio, its on and its background noise. But if we listen to the radio, were paying attention to it. We also use hear when were talking about things weve learnt or been told about.

Have you heard from Jason?
Yeah, he just texted me. Hes going to be late.

So well often use hear when were talking about news.

Hey, have you heard? We might get bonuses this year.
Really?
Yeah, the head office is talking about it.
Oh, great!

Listen is a regular verb. Hear is irregular, but its only the spelling thats irregular because it ends in -D, not -ED. The pronunciation is hear, heard, heard.
We can listen. Or we can listen to something. So we listen to people, we listen to the radio and we listen to music. But notice we cant listen something so these sentences are wrong. We cant listen music. We listen to music.

Didnt you hear me knocking?
No, I was listening to some music.

So dont forget to use to here. Listen to music. Remember that.
Now hear. Hear is special kind of verb because its a sense verb. Ive made another video about sense verbs and Ill put a link here for you to check out. The important thing to note is we dont usually use hear in the progressive or continuous form. Instead we often use it with can so we say can or cant hear.

I saw Thompkins this afternoon.
If you want to talk to me, come into the kitchen.
I cant hear you when youre in there and I cant leave the food.
All right. All right.

Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?

Hey! Youre acting mighty suspicious.
Eh?
Yes, you.
Hey?
Dont give me that. You can hear.
Yes, Ill have another beer.

Have a look at these sentences. Which one is wrong? We can listen, or we can listen to someone or something, but we cant listen something. This is wrong. Listen is often followed by to.
OK, now what about these ones? This one is correct. To talk about activities in progress, we use listen to. But notice this. To talk about the result of the listening, we could use hear. Now that means there are just a few situations where hear has a very similar meaning to listen to.

I heard a really interesting story on the news this morning about computer games.
Oh, I listened to that too. Some of them have viruses that can bring the network down.
Uhuh.

In this situation we could switch the verbs around and it would still be correct. So why is this? Its because the focus is on WHAT we heard the result of the listening and the hearing.
Now if that was hard dont worry. Its a very unusual example because normally the meanings are quite different. Listening is intentional and hearing is not. Follow that rule and you cant go wrong. Lets finish with one more example.

What are you doing?
Shhh. Kathys on the phone with the head office.
Really?
Yeah, shes talking about our bonuses.
Ooo. Whats she saying? I
really cant hear very well.
Give me that.
But I want it.
No, let me listen.
[Kathy clears throat] What are you doing?
Oh, this is Jays.

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