聞(き)こえるTo be audible, To sound (like), (Can) hear, To be heard

Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

• 

  Pushindawood

  To be audible
  to sound (like)
  (can) hear
  to be heard

  Structure

  • Noun + が + 聞こえる
  • い-Adj. + いく + 聞こえる
  • な-Adj. + に + 聞こえる
  • Noun + に + 聞こえる

  聞こえる was originally a conjugation of 聞く, but nowadays it is treated as a standalone intransitive verb.

  [聞こえる is an intransitive verb, meaning “to be audible”]

  [聞こえる is used to express that something is heard spontaneously, without the active effort/will of the speaker - it is unavoidable to hear it]

  [In other words, it can be used in situations where the sound can be heard easily without focusing on it, or when it is so loud that the speaker hears it regardless of their will to hear it...

• 

  testing

  I guess those are exceptions to " 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)." because “耳が聞こえない” is an expression? I was a bit confused there, because in both cases it’s not the 耳 that are the source of the sound, despite being marked with が.

• 

  nekoyama

  You might as well learn 耳が聞こえる as an expression, together with 目が見える.

  Sometimes 聞こえる・見える are contrasted with 聞ける・見られる in terms of the former expressing potential based on ability, and the latter expressing potential based on circumstances. That way we can avoid the expressions being an exception. I’m not sure it’s actually an easier or better explanation, just a very common one.

  ---

  From the original bunpro explanation that’s still in the top comment in this thread:

• 

  testing

  Thanks for the explanations! I am not sure I actually know about “spontaneous action/things that happen naturally (自発)” yet, so… I got something new to look up too

• 

  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.

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  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.

• 

  okayfrog

  I’m wondering about this as well. Doesn’t make any sense.

• 

  Fuga

  Hey @rexd !

  ノック is a noun, so we have added がきこえた as an accepted answer.

  Although が should be used there, when 聞こえた is simply used as ‘hear’ in a casual conversation, it can be omitted.