slušati / čuti (to listen / hear) | Croatian Grammar

Croatian, like English, separates the intentional act of listening from the passive fact of hearing — slušati ("to listen to") versus čuti ("to hear"). But the grammar diverges sharply from English in one respect: neither verb takes a preposition. Where English says "listen to music" and "hear about it", Croatian says slušati glazbu and čuti to with a bare accusative object. The dangling "to" is the single most common error English speakers make with slušati, so it is worth fixing on day one.

The two verbs at a glance

	slušati	čuti
Sense	listen (to), pay attention to	hear, perceive by ear; learn (news)
Aspect	imperfective	bi-aspectual (perfective + imperfective)
Volition	intentional, deliberate	involuntary, perceptual
Present	slušam … slušaju (a-class)	čujem … čuju (e-class)
Object	accusative, no preposition	accusative, no preposition

Slušati is imperfective with a perfective partner poslušati ("to listen to (in full) / to obey, heed"). Čuti is bi-aspectual — the same form serves as both perfective ("I heard it [once]") and imperfective ("I (can) hear it"); see bi-aspectual verbs.

slušati — present (a-class)

Stem sluš- + theme -a- + a-class endings. The 3pl is the a-class -aju: slušaju.

Person	Form	Meaning
ja	slušam	I listen / I'm listening
ti	slušaš	you listen
on/ona/ono	sluša	he/she/it listens
mi	slušamo	we listen
vi	slušate	you listen
oni/one/ona	slušaju	they listen

Svako jutro slušam vijesti dok doručkujem.

Every morning I listen to the news while I have breakfast. — bare accusative 'vijesti', no 'to'.

Slušaš li me uopće?

Are you even listening to me? — accusative clitic 'me'.

čuti — present (e-class)

Čuti is an e-class verb on the stem ču-: čujem, čuješ … čuju (with the inserted -j-).

Person	Form	Meaning
ja	čujem	I hear / I can hear
ti	čuješ	you hear
on/ona/ono	čuje	he/she/it hears
mi	čujemo	we hear
vi	čujete	you hear
oni/one/ona	čuju	they hear

Ne čujem te dobro, veza je loša.

I can't hear you well, the connection is bad. — perceptual, involuntary.

💡

The split is volition. Slušati = you choose to direct your ears at something (Slušam glazbu "I'm listening to music"). Čuti = sound reaches you whether you want it or not (Čujem glazbu iz susjedstva "I (can) hear music from next door"). English "listen/hear" works the same way — the trap is purely the missing preposition.

The l-participle

Gender / number	slušati	čuti
masculine singular	slušao	čuo
feminine singular	slušala	čula
neuter singular	slušalo	čulo
masculine plural	slušali	čuli
feminine plural	slušale	čule
neuter plural	slušala	čula

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. Because čuti is bi-aspectual, čuo sam can be "I heard (it once)" or "I have heard / I learned".

Person	slušati (masc.)	čuti (masc.)
ja	slušao sam	čuo sam
ti	slušao si	čuo si
on / ona	slušao / slušala je	čuo / čula je
mi	slušali smo	čuli smo
vi	slušali ste	čuli ste
oni / one	slušali su	čuli su

Cijelu noć smo slušali kišu po krovu.

All night we listened to the rain on the roof. — imperfective: extended process.

Jesi li čuo da se vraćaju?

Have you heard they're coming back? — 'čuti' = learn a piece of news, with a da-clause.

Future I (futur prvi)

Slušati drops -i: slušat ću. Čuti ends in -ti and also drops it: čut ću.

Person	slušati	čuti
ja	slušat ću	čut ću
ti	slušat ćeš	čut ćeš
on/ona/ono	slušat će	čut će
mi	slušat ćemo	čut ćemo
vi	slušat ćete	čut ćete
oni/one/ona	slušat će	čut će

Čut ćemo se sutra, javi mi se navečer.

We'll talk tomorrow, get in touch in the evening. — reflexive 'čuti se' = be in touch by phone.

Imperative

Slušaj! ("Listen!") is a-class (-aj); čuj! ("hear / listen, look here") is e-class and doubles as a discourse opener ("hey, listen").

Person	slušati	čuti
ti	slušaj	čuj
mi	slušajmo	čujmo
vi	slušajte	čujte

Slušaj me dobro, ovo je važno.

Listen to me carefully, this is important.

Čuj, ne mogu sad, nazvat ću te kasnije.

Look, I can't right now, I'll call you later. — 'čuj' as a conversational 'listen / hey'.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

Person	slušati (masc.)	čuti (masc.)
ja	slušao bih	čuo bih
ti	slušao bi	čuo bi
on/ona/ono	slušao bi	čuo bi
mi	slušali bismo	čuli bismo
vi	slušali biste	čuli biste
oni/one/ona	slušali bi	čuli bi

Slušao bih te satima, tako lijepo pričaš.

I could listen to you for hours, you tell a story so well.

Other forms

Passive participle: slušan ("listened to") — najslušaniji podcast "the most-listened-to podcast"; čuven survives only as an adjective meaning "famous, renowned" (literally "heard-of"), not as a working passive of čuti; the live passive participle of čuti is čut (čuveno / čuto is rare).
Present verbal adverb (slušati): slušajući ("while listening") — Učio je slušajući snimke "He studied by listening to the recordings."

To je najslušanija radijska emisija u zemlji.

That's the most-listened-to radio show in the country. — superlative of the passive participle 'slušan'.

Key uses and government

1. slušati + bare accusative — NO preposition

The thing you listen to is a plain accusative, with no equivalent of English "to". Slušati glazbu, slušati profesora, slušati radio — never *slušati na/za.

Djeca ne slušaju učiteljicu.

The children don't listen to the teacher. — bare accusative; also the sense 'don't obey'.

Voziš li uvijek slušajući glazbu?

Do you always drive listening to music?

2. poslušati — listen (in full) / obey, heed

The perfective poslušati means either to listen to something through to the end, or to heed/obey advice. Poslušaj me = "do as I say".

Poslušaj savjet i odmori se malo.

Take the advice and rest a bit. — perfective: heed/obey.

3. čuti + accusative, da-clause, or čuti za / o

Čuti takes a bare accusative for the sound (čujem zvono "I hear the bell"), a da-clause for reported news (čuo sam da… "I heard that…"), and čuti za / o + accusative/locative for "hear of / about" something.

Nikad nisam čula za to mjesto.

I've never heard of that place. — 'čuti za' + accusative.

Common Mistakes

❌ Slušam na glazbu dok radim.

No preposition — 'slušati' takes the bare accusative: 'slušam glazbu'. There is no 'to'.

✅ Slušam glazbu dok radim.

I listen to music while I work.

❌ Čuješ li za ovu pjesmu? Predivna je.

Wrong verb — 'čuti za' = hear OF (know about); for actively listening to a song right now use 'slušati'.

✅ Slušaš li ovu pjesmu? Predivna je.

Are you listening to this song? It's gorgeous.

❌ Oni čuju glazbu na koncertu cijelu večer.

Aspect/sense — at a concert you intentionally listen, so 'slušaju'; 'čuti' is involuntary hearing.

✅ Oni slušaju glazbu na koncertu cijelu večer.

They listen to music at the concert all evening.

❌ Ja čujem te, govori.

Word order — the clitic 'te' is second-position: 'Čujem te, govori.'

✅ Čujem te, govori.

I can hear you, go ahead.

❌ Slušao sam ga cijeli govor i razumio sve.

Aspect mismatch — a completed whole-listening wants the perfective 'poslušao'.

✅ Poslušao sam cijeli govor i razumio sve.

I listened to the whole speech and understood everything.

Key Takeaways

Slušati (impf, intentional, "listen to") vs čuti (bi-aspectual, perceptual, "hear"). Perfective of slušati is poslušati ("listen in full / obey").
Both take the bare accusative — no preposition. Killing the English "to/about" is the #1 fix.
Slušati is a-class (slušam … slušaju); čuti is e-class (čujem … čuju).
Čuti extends to "learn (news)" (čuo sam da…), "hear of" (čuti za), and reflexive čuti se = "be in touch by phone".
Passive participle slušan (najslušaniji); imperative slušaj! / čuj! (the latter also a conversational "hey, listen").

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