hören vs. zuhören

This is a very short but hopefully helpful post!

In German you have the verbs hören and zuhören, and it's good to know 2 things about these words.


1. They mean different things.

Both hören and zuhören mean different things. One is when you physically can't hear someone (hören) and the other is when you aren't paying attention (zuhören). I like to remember which is which by remembering zuhören as it's ZU(too) annoying when someone isn't listening to you.

The fireworks are too loud. I can't hear you. (hören)

I'm watching Netflix right now. I'm not listening to you. (zuhören)

2. Both are paired with different German cases.

So you remembered to use the correct hören/zuhören verb! Congrats, but there's still a mistake you can make that has to do with what the word is paired with. Let me give you an example.

 The fireworks are too loud. I can't hear you.
 Das Feuerwerk ist zu laut. Ich höre dich nicht. (hören + Akkusativ)

I'm watching Netflix right now. I'm not listening to you.
Ich schaue gerade Netflix an. Ich höre dir nicht zu. (zuhören + Dativ)

You can see that both have a different you. Hören is with Akkusativ and zuhören is with Dativ. (Also note that zuhören is a split verb so that's why you see höre ... zu in the example.)

And that's it for this week!

German Exercise for the Week:

Hören oder zuhören Übung (Level: A2)

The exercise is a simple one, but will help you think about the differences between the 2 verbs.

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