Slyšet means "to hear." Like its sibling vidět ("to see"), it is a verb of perception — it describes what your ears pick up, not what you deliberately choose to attend to. Czech keeps that distinction in its vocabulary: slyšet is the passive, involuntary side ("hear"), while poslouchat is the intentional side ("listen"). Learning slyšet properly means learning exactly where it stops and poslouchat begins, so this page covers both.
Conjugation class
Slyšet is a Class IV (-í-) verb of the trpět type — the same family as vidět and muset. Drop the infinitive -et to reach the stem slyš-, then add -ím, -íš, -í, -íme, -íte, -í. Note that the stem ends in š, so the spelling stays slyším (never slyš-ím with a hard vowel — š is always followed by a soft í).
| Person | Present |
|---|---|
| já | slyším |
| ty | slyšíš |
| on / ona / ono | slyší |
| my | slyšíme |
| vy | slyšíte |
| oni / ony / ona | slyší |
Slyším tě úplně jasně.
I can hear you perfectly clearly.
Promiň, špatně tě slyším, je tu hluk.
Sorry, I can hardly hear you, it's noisy here.
Slyšíte ten zvuk? Co to je?
Do you hear that sound? What is it?
Government: an accusative object
Slyšet is transitive and takes its object in the accusative — the thing heard.
Slyšel jsem nějakou ránu z kuchyně.
I heard some kind of bang from the kitchen. (male speaker)
V noci jsme slyšeli sovu.
At night we heard an owl.
Neslyšela jsem budík a zaspala jsem.
I didn't hear the alarm and overslept. (female speaker)
Government: a content clause with že
When what you "hear" is a piece of information rather than a sound, slyšet takes a clause introduced by že ("that"). This is the everyday way to report something you've learned by hearsay — equivalent to English "I hear (that)…" or "I heard (that)…".
Slyšel jsem, že se budeš stěhovat do Brna.
I heard you're going to move to Brno. (male speaker)
Slyšela jsem, že prý zdražují jízdné.
I heard they're apparently raising the fares. (female speaker)
slyšet vs poslouchat — perception vs intention
This is the contrast that catches English speakers, because English "hear" and "listen" don't line up neatly with the Czech pair.
- slyšet = to hear — passive, involuntary perception. A sound reaches your ears whether you wanted it to or not. You don't decide to slyšet.
- poslouchat (+ accusative) = to listen to — a deliberate, directed act of attention. You choose to point your ears at something.
So you slyšíš your neighbour's TV through the wall by accident, but you posloucháš the radio you switched on. This is the exact same passive-vs-intentional split that separates vidět ("see") from dívat se ("look at / watch").
Poslouchám rád jazz.
I like listening to jazz. (intentional)
Slyším sousedovu hudbu přes zeď.
I can hear my neighbour's music through the wall. (involuntary)
Poslouchej mě, je to důležité.
Listen to me, it's important. (imperative of poslouchat)
The perfective: uslyšet
Slyšet is imperfective (an ongoing or general perception). Its perfective partner uslyšet marks the moment of hearing — "to catch the sound of," "to suddenly hear" — and, very commonly, the future "will hear." The prefix u- turns continuous hearing into a single, completed event.
Because perfectives have no present meaning, the present-looking form uslyším is in fact future: "I'll hear."
Až uslyšíš zvonek, otevři dveře.
When you hear the doorbell, open the door.
Najednou jsem za sebou uslyšel kroky.
Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me. (male speaker)
Brzy o nás uslyšíte.
You'll be hearing from us soon.
Past tense
The past uses the l-participle slyšel / slyšela / slyšelo plus the auxiliary být, which is dropped in the third person.
| Subject | Past form |
|---|---|
| já (m.) / (f.) | slyšel jsem / slyšela jsem |
| ty (m.) / (f.) | slyšel jsi / slyšela jsi |
| on / ona / ono | slyšel / slyšela / slyšelo |
| my (m.) / (f.) | slyšeli jsme / slyšely jsme |
| vy (m.) / (f.) | slyšeli jste / slyšely jste |
| oni / ony / ona | slyšeli / slyšely / slyšela |
Slyšela jsem o tobě samé dobré věci.
I've heard nothing but good things about you. (female speaker)
To jsme ještě nikdy neslyšeli.
We've never heard that before.
Future tense
The imperfective future ("will be hearing / will keep hearing") uses budu slyšet. For the one-off "will hear," Czech prefers the perfective uslyším (see above).
| Person | Future (imperfective) |
|---|---|
| já | budu slyšet |
| ty | budeš slyšet |
| on / ona / ono | bude slyšet |
| my | budeme slyšet |
| vy | budete slyšet |
| oni / ony / ona | budou slyšet |
Z balkonu budeme slyšet ten koncert i bez lístků.
From the balcony we'll be able to hear the concert even without tickets.
Imperative
The imperative slyš / slyšte exists but is rare and mostly literary or set-phrase ("hear ye"). For an everyday "listen!" Czech uses poslouchej / poslouchejte instead.
Slyš, lide!
Hear ye, people! (literary, archaic flavour)
Common mistakes
❌ Slyším rádio každé ráno.
Wrong if you mean it's on purpose: slyšet is passive perception.
✅ Poslouchám rádio každé ráno.
Correct: deliberate listening is poslouchat.
❌ Posloucháš na ten zvuk?
Wrong: poslouchat takes a direct accusative, no 'na'.
✅ Slyšíš ten zvuk?
Correct: 'Do you hear that sound?'
❌ Slyšel jsem že přijdeš.
Wrong: a comma before 'že' is obligatory in Czech.
✅ Slyšel jsem, že přijdeš.
Correct: 'I heard that you're coming.'
❌ Oni slyšejí ten rozdíl.
Wrong: standard Czech has no 'slyšejí'.
✅ Oni slyší ten rozdíl.
Correct: the 3rd-person plural is 'slyší'.
Key takeaways
- slyšet = "hear" (passive perception); Class IV, slyším … slyší, with an accusative object or a že-clause.
- The perfective uslyšet = "catch the sound of / will hear"; uslyším is future in meaning.
- For deliberate listening, use poslouchat (+ accusative, no preposition), not slyšet.
- The same perception-vs-intention split governs vidět ("see") versus dívat se ("watch").
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