Meaning & use
listen
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To pay attention to a sound, speech or music so that you can hear and take in what it is.
Grammar: No direct object; add 'to' before what you hear: listen to the radio, not 'listen the radio'.
Patterns
- listen to someone/something
- listen for something
- listen to someone do something
Please listen carefully because the instructions are only given once.
I like to listen to podcasts while I cook.
She sat quietly and listened to the rain on the roof.
verbintransitive
To take someone's words or advice seriously and act on them.
Grammar: Often used with 'to' for the person: listen to your doctor. Compare hearing, which needs no effort.
Patterns
- listen to someone
- listen to advice
I told him the bridge was closed, but he would not listen.
If you had listened to your parents, you would have saved some money.
The manager never listens to what the staff suggest.
verbintransitive
To try to catch a particular sound by staying alert for it.
Grammar: Used with 'for' when you are waiting for a sound: listen for the doorbell.
Patterns
- listen for something
Listen for the whistle, and then cross the tracks.
The nurse listened for any change in his breathing.
We stayed up listening for footsteps on the stairs.
Word forms
| third person singular | listens |
|---|---|
| past tense | listened |
| past participle | listened |
| -ing form | listening |
Common combinations
- listen carefully
- Listen carefully to the questions before you answer.
- listen to music
- He listens to music on the train every morning.
- listen to reason
- She was too angry to listen to reason.
- listen in
- Millions of fans listen in on Saturday for the match commentary.
- listen up
- Listen up, everyone, the schedule has changed.
- stop and listen
- Stop and listen: can you hear that humming sound?
Synonyms and how they differ
- hear
- Hear simply means sound reaches your ears, while listen means you are deliberately paying attention to it.
- heed
- Heed is more formal and only covers the sense of following advice or warnings, not paying attention to sound.
- attend
- Attend suggests careful, often formal, attention to something said, and is less common in casual conversation.
- tune in
- Tune in is informal and usually means to start listening to or watching a broadcast.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: listen or hear?
listen vs hear
You hear a noise without trying, but you listen to something on purpose. We say 'listen to music' and 'hear a bang'.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
Listen is followed by 'to' before the thing you pay attention to. 'Listen for' means waiting to catch a particular sound, which does not fit the radio here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “listen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.