Structure
Noun + が + 聞こえる
［い］Adjective［く］+ 聞こえる
［な］Adjective + に + 聞こえる
Noun + に + 聞こえる
Details
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Standard
使用域
一般
About 聞こえる
聞こえる is a verb that is often used to describe things that can be heard, or the way in which something is heard. Because of this, the most common translations of this verb are 'to be audible', or 'to sound like (A)'. 聞こえる is an intransitive verb, and literally means 'to give off sound'.
When using 聞こえる, (A) will always be followed by が. (A) is considered to be the 'source' of the sound (a noun). However, the 'way that something sounds' will be marked adverbially. This means that an い-Adjective will be changed to its く form, and な-Adjectives/nouns will be followed by に.
When using 聞こえる, (A) will always be followed by が. (A) is considered to be the 'source' of the sound (a noun). However, the 'way that something sounds' will be marked adverbially. This means that an い-Adjective will be changed to its く form, and な-Adjectives/nouns will be followed by に.
- 車の音が聞こえる。I can hear the sound of a car.
- アニメに出てくる女の子の声は可愛く聞こえるけど、声優はいつもおばさんだ。Voices of girls that appear in anime sound cute, but the voice actor is always an old lady.
- こう歌うと上手に聞こえる。If you sing like this, you will sound good.
- 電車に聞こえるけどあれは隣の人のいびきだ。It sounds like a train, but that is the neighbor's snoring.
Fun Fact
The primary difference between 聞こえる, and 聞ける (the potential form of 聞く), is that 聞こえる is used to identify things that do not require the active concentration of the listener to be heard. In other words, ambient noise. However, 聞ける is used when the speaker is trying to concentrate on some specific sound, and refers to their 'ability' to hear it.- 静かな部屋にいると聞こえるよ。You can hear it if you are in a quiet room. (Without effort)
- 静かな部屋にいると聞けるよ。If you are in a quiet room, you can hear it. (If you focus and try to hear the sound)
Synonyms
Examples
「西山さんは生まれつき耳が聞こえないんです。」
'Nishiyama has been deaf since birth.'
To make this sentence generally nicer, you can use 耳が不自由です 'to not have free use of your ears' instead.
隣のせきくんはうるさすぎるわよ。彼が音楽を聴くときいつもあたしのアパートに聞こえるわ！
My neighbor Seki is too loud! Whenever he listens to music, I can hear it in my flat!
「教師の声が小さすぎるから何も聞こえないんだよ。」
'The teacher is too quiet, so I cannot hear anything.'
「外がうるさいからテレビの音がよく聞こえない。」
'Since it is loud outside, I cannot hear the TV very well.'
「滝の音はすごく大きくてここからでも聞こえます！」
'The sound of the waterfall is really loud, and we can hear it even from here!'
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Tae Kim
Breakdown and examples
JapaneseTest4You
Spontaneity
Imabi
History of 聞こえる and its uses
BriefJapanese
Offline
Tae Kim Japanese Grammar Guide
page 126
Genki II 2nd Edition
page 83
[DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
page 188
TRY! N4
page 32
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聞こえる – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (6 in total)
bokudake
「この店の中だと何も聞こえないけど、階段を上がってロビーに行けば、電話がよく聞こえるよ。」
‘I can’t hear anything inside this shop, but if I go upstairs to the lobby, I can hear you well on the phone.’The primary difference between 聞こえる, and 聞ける (the potential form of 聞く), is that 聞こえる is used to identify things that do not require the active concentration of the listener to be heard.
I have some difficulty distinguishing the two in this example. I thought when you’re on the phone you’re activelly concentrating to hear the person you’re speaking with; it’s an intentional action, not random sound coming in. Not like the background sound of a creek for example which might be audible, but you’re not activelly trying to hear it.
nekoyama
The distinction is difficult to translate 1:1 to English but “audible” vs “can listen” is going in the right direction. When I’m on the phone with someone, or more realistically, in an online meeting, I might ask “Can you hear me?” in English. This would be “聞こえる？” too. I’m asking whether the sound safely makes it to the other end. I’m not asking if they can listen to me like they’d listen to music.
rexd
The grammar page says “Noun + が + 聞こえる”, but “今のノック____た？” dinged me for “が 聞こえ”. It just wanted “今のノック聞きこえた” Can someone help me wrap my brain around this one? I assumed ノック is a noun.
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