Ouvir (To Hear) — Full Conjugation

Ouvir means to hear — the physical act of sound reaching your ears. It's one of the first verbs you need: Ouves? (Can you hear me?), Ouve lá! (Listen!), ouço música (I'm listening to music). Despite being so common, ouvir is irregular: the eu form (and the whole present subjunctive) swaps v → ç, giving ouço, ouça, ouças. Everywhere else, the verb looks like a regular -ir verb.

This unusual swap is a Latin inheritance. The form ouço preserves an older alternation that was flattened in most verbs but survives here and in a few related verbs. You just have to memorize it — there's no modern rule that generates it.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The eu form is irregular: ouço (pronounced "OH-soo"). The other five forms are regular.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Fully regular. Use for past habits or background descriptions: ouvia sempre o rádio da avó = I always used to hear my grandmother's radio.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Fully regular.

As with all -ir verbs, ouvimos is the same in the present and the preterite; context tells you which is meant.

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

Present perfect — pretérito perfeito composto

Very common with ouvir to describe repeated listening/hearing up to now: Tenho ouvido muito este álbum = I've been listening to this album a lot.

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Future perfect — futuro perfeito

Conditional — condicional

Conditional perfect — condicional composto

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Formed from the ouço stem, so the whole paradigm takes ç. This is the irregular part you must memorize.

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Fully regular — built on the preterite stem ouvi-.

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Fully regular — identical to the personal infinitive. Quando ouvires, avisa-me = when you hear, let me know.

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

Both affirmative and negative forms are extremely common in speech — from the reflex-like "ouve lá!" (hey listen!) to "ouça, por favor" (listen, please).

Affirmative:

Negative (identical to the present subjunctive with não):

Note that the tu affirmative ouve keeps the v, but the tu negative não ouças uses the subjunctive ç stem.

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Compound personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal composto

Ouvir vs. escutar

English distinguishes hear (passive) from listen to (active). Portuguese makes the same distinction, but with a twist:

• Ouvir = to hear. Primary sense: sound reaching your ears, with or without attention. Ouço o mar daqui (I can hear the sea from here).
• Escutar = to listen (attentively). Emphasizes the deliberate, attentive act. Escuta o que te digo (Listen to what I'm telling you).

But — and this is where Portuguese surprises English speakers — ouvir covers a lot of ground that English would reserve for listen to. Portuguese people say ouvir música (listen to music), ouvir rádio (listen to the radio), ouvir um podcast, ouvir alguém (listen to someone). You don't need escutar for these; ouvir is the default.

Escutar gets used when the attentiveness is the point — in parenting (Escuta-me! = Listen to me!), in counseling contexts, in stage directions, or in the sense of listen (to a secret/confession).

Prepositions and typical objects

Ouvir takes a direct object (no preposition) for what you hear:

• ouvir música — listen to music
• ouvir rádio — listen to the radio
• ouvir um barulho — hear a noise
• ouvir alguém — hear/listen to someone

There's no a or em between ouvir and its object. This is different from Spanish, where "escuchar *a alguien" uses the personal *a.

Ouvir falar de / em = to hear about (hearsay). Ouvi falar desse filme, mas nunca o vi = I've heard of that film, but I've never seen it.

Ouvir dizer que... = to hear it said that... (reported speech/hearsay, always with a que clause). Ouvi dizer que vais mudar de emprego = I heard you're going to change jobs.

Example sentences in context

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Ouvir means to hear and, in most everyday contexts, also to listen to. Portuguese uses ouvir for music, radio, podcasts, and people — where English might say listen to.
• The irregularity is in the eu form and the present subjunctive: ouço, ouça, ouças, ouça, ouçamos, ouçam. Everywhere else, the verb is regular.
• The tu affirmative imperative is ouve (regular stem); the tu negative switches to não ouças (subjunctive stem).
• Ouvir takes a direct object with no preposition: ouvir música, ouvir-te. No a before a person.
• Escutar is available for emphasis on attentive listening, but don't over-use it; ouvir is the neutral choice.
• Set phrases to learn: ouvir falar de (to hear about), ouvir dizer que (to hear it said that).