Polyglot Dictionary

hören

/ˈhøːʁən/

verb A1

der (masc.) die (fem.) das (neut.)

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

V Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Core Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

present (3rd sg.)
hört
past
hörte
perfect
hat gehört

Meaning

  1. to hear

    The plain root behind zuhören (to listen) and aufhören (to stop) — this entry is the missing link between those two, sitting right in the middle: hören is passive perception, zuhören adds active attention, and aufhören has drifted away from hearing entirely.

V Category Action Concreteness Concrete Agency Voluntary Duration Durative Transitivity Transitive

Similar words

lauschen

hören is the general verb for hearing; lauschen implies close, attentive, often secretive listening.

zuhören

This is the same distinction as English "hear" vs "listen": hören is passive perception — sound reaches your ears whether you want it to or not. zuhören is the active, attentive act of paying attention to what's being said.

Similar in other languages

Portuguese

ouvir

ouvir is the Portuguese word for the same thing — both mean "to hear."

Practice

1 What does hören mean?

2 Which fingerprint chart matches hören?

See also

verbcore-vocabulary

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