v.
to hear
听见
to hear
Literally 'listen and perceive' (听 listen + 见 see/perceive). A result compound meaning to successfully hear or catch a sound.
Common Usage & Traps
- 听见有人说话 — to hear someone talking
- 没听见 — didn't hear (it)
- 听不见 — can't hear (right now)
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我不听见你说话我没听见你说话不 rejects habits and choices; 听见 is a one-second event, so only 没 can negate it. 不听见 is not a sentence anyone says.
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我喜欢在手机上听见音乐我喜欢在手机上听音乐Music you choose to play is 听. 听见 is for sound that reaches you by accident, like music drifting in from the street.
Why does 我听音乐 mean I listen to music, while 我听见音乐 means music just reached my ears?
听 is the listening you choose; 听见 is the sound that finds you.
听 is the verb you control: you decide to listen, and you can stop whenever you like. 听见 is the result: a sound arrives and your ears register it, whether you asked for it or not. Someone shouting your name from the street makes you 听见 them, but you never sat down to 听 them. That is why 听见 loves sudden things like knocks, phone rings, and strangers talking behind you. Say 我在听见音乐 and natives wince, because you are claiming an accident as a hobby. The exact same split shows up with eyes: 看 is look, 看见 is see.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| You decide to do it | 我听音乐。 (I listen to music.) | 我听见音乐。 (wrong if you chose to press play) |
| The sound reaches you | 我听见有人敲门。 (I heard a knock.) | 我听有人敲门。 (wrong if it just happened) |
You missed what someone said to you — do you say 我不听见 or 我没听见?
Say 没听见, never 不听见 — 不 is for habits, and 听见 is an event.
不 kills habits, choices, and willingness; 没 kills events that did or didn't happen. 听见 lasts one second and then it is history, so it can only take 没. 我不听见 is simply not a sentence Chinese people produce. Compare 我不听这种歌 (I never listen to that stuff) with 我没听见你叫我 (I didn't hear you call me). The first rejects a habit, the second reports a missed moment.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| A habit or a choice | 我不听这种歌。 (I don't listen to this stuff.) | 我不听见这种歌。 |
| One missed moment | 我没听见你叫我。 (I didn't hear you call me.) | 我不听见你叫我。 |
| Standard past negative | 没听见 is the everyday form | 不听见 is nobody's form |
Someone's voice keeps cutting out on the phone — do you say 我没听见 or 我听不见?
没听见 means you missed it once; 听不见 means you can't hear it at all.
没听见 points at one past moment: the sound was there, it is gone, you missed it. 听不见 describes your ears right now — the line is breaking up, the street is loud, nothing gets through. On a bad call you say 你大声点，我听不见, never 我没听见. If someone replays a voice message and asks 你听见了吗, you answer 没听见, because that moment is over. Add 得 and it flips positive: 你听得见我吗 means can you hear me?
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Bad line, happening now | 你大声点，我听不见。 | 你大声点，我没听见。 |
| Something you just missed | 你刚才说什么？我没听见。 | 你刚才说什么？我听不见。 |
| Time frame | 听不见 = right now, your ears are blocked | 没听见 = already finished, that one time |
Appears in Stories 3 stories
Real context sentences across different daily scenarios and graded readings.
Before you read: this is a short rhyming poem. You will meet a doctor who asks about seeing and hearing. Try to spot words you already know!
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听见 听不见？
A young man helps an old man look for his cat. But the real surprise is why the old man wanted to find the cat. Read on to learn about kindness and friendship.
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听见 有人和我说话，我觉得非常高兴。”
Before you read, close your eyes and imagine a rainy afternoon. This story uses simple HSK 1 words to show how rain can become a talking friend.
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听——我 听见 雨说话。
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