Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to hear" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

услышать

Meaning: to hear, to find out, to smell

Pronunciation: [oo-SLIH-shaht']

Part of speech: verb (perfective aspect)

Rank: #485 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Я хочу́ услы́шать твой го́лос.
I want to hear your voice.
Где ты услы́шал об э́том?
Where did you hear about this? (informal, addressing a male)
Он не услы́шал меня́, но я повтори́л ещё раз.
He did not hear me, but I repeated one more time.
Она говори́ла ти́хо, что́бы никто́ не услы́шал.
She spoke quietly, so that nobody could hear.
Я услы́шал об э́том по ра́дио.
I heard about this on the radio. (said by a male)
О новостя́х спо́рта вы услы́шите по́сле рекла́мы.
You'll hear about the sports news after the advertisement.
Ве́ра повтори́ла услы́шанные слова́.
Vera repeated the words she had heard.
Услы́шав стук в дверь, она́ спроси́ла: "Кто там?".
Having had heard a knock on the door, she asked: "Who's there?"
Стучи́те, и вас услы́шат!
Knock, and you'll be heard!
Войдя́ в кафе́, он услы́шал за́пах жа́ренного ко́фе.
Upon entering the cafe, he caught the scent of roasted coffee.
Услы́шав плохи́е но́вости, она́ запла́кала.
When she heard the bad news, she started crying.

Related words:

слышать = to hear (imperfective aspect)
услыхать = to hear (colloquial)
расслышать = to catch (what was said)
узнать = to learn, find out

Proverbs and sayings:

Лучше один раз увидеть, чем сто раз услышать.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
literal It's better to see once than to hear hundred times.
Имеющий уши, да услышит. (Евангелие от Матфея)
He will listen who has ears. (Matthew)

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

The perfective verb услышать is not used in the Present Tense. Use the imperfective verb слышать instead.

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	услы́шал
she	услы́шала
it	услы́шало
we, you (plural), they	услы́шали

Future Simple Tense

I	услы́шу
you (singular)	услы́шишь
he, she, it	услы́шит
we	услы́шим
you (plural)	услы́шите
they	услы́шат

Future Compound Tense

The perfective verb услышать is not used in the Future Compound Tense. Use the imperfective verb слышать instead.

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	услы́шь
you (plural)	услы́шьте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair слышать/услышать

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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