To listen

H

htims

Member
English
How can I say "to listen to" in Hebrew - as in to listen to music. I have found two verbs: lishmoa and lehakshiv.
What's the difference between the two? Which is the preferred way of saying this?
Thanks
 
    • There are three roughly semantically equivalent verbs:
    Lishmoa'
    Lehaazin
    Lehaqshiv

    Lishmoa' is the most general, meaning "to hear" as well as "to listen."
    Lehaazin is used in more formal registers and means "to listen." (It's always transitive.)
    Lehaqshiv involves focusing ones auditory attention on something. A question like "Are you listening (to me)?" would be expressed with lehaqshiv.
     
    Thanks very much for your quick response Ensign Sulu. I think it's lishmoa that I need to use.
    Shalom!!
     
    Ensign_Sulu said:
    Lehaazin is used in more formal registers and means "to listen." (It's always transitive.)
    Click to expand...
    Perhaps you meant intransitive? When I first encountered this verb, the expression I saw was:
    להאזין למוזיקה

    One needs the same preposition ל- for להקשיב‎;
    תקשיב לי טוב!
     
    So, if I wanted to say "Listen to a joke/story" in Hebrew could I say all three: שמע בדיחה/ספור and הקשב בדיחה/ספור and האזן בדיחה/ספור? Or only the first one?
     
    I may be mistaken, but when an Israeli wishes to say, "Listen!", he usually uses הַקְשֵׁב (or, more colloquially, תּקְשִׁיב). However, if the thing/person to be listened to is being specified, he will usually use שְׁמַע (or, more colloquially, תִּשְׁמַע), followed by the thing as the direct object.

    הַקְשֵׁב! "Listen!"
    שְׁמַע בדיחה! "Listen to a joke (that I'm about to tell you)!"
     
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