Infinitive (imperfective): слу́шать — "to listen, to listen to (as a process / habitually)" Infinitive (perfective): послу́шать — "to listen (for a while, one bounded act); to have a listen" Type: a fully regular first-conjugation verb in -ать — the model -аю/-аешь paradigm
слу́шать is the textbook-perfect first-conjugation verb: it conjugates exactly like де́лать, чита́ть, and рабо́тать, with fixed stress on the слу́- stem throughout. There is nothing tricky about its forms — which makes this page mostly about its government and its near-twin. Two points carry the page. First, unlike English "listen to," Russian слу́шать takes a plain accusative with no preposition: слу́шать му́зыку "listen to music." Second, слу́шать ("listen," active, on purpose) must not be confused with слы́шать ("hear," passive, what reaches your ears) — they look almost identical, conjugate differently, and mean different things. Stress is marked throughout, though here it never moves.
Present tense (слу́шать, imperfective) — first conjugation, fixed stress
Only the imperfective слу́шать has a present. The endings are the regular first-conjugation set built on the -ай- stem (-аю, -аешь, -ает, -аем, -аете, -ают), and the stress stays on слу́- in every form — no shifts.
| Person | слу́шать — PRESENT |
|---|---|
| я | слу́шаю |
| ты | слу́шаешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | слу́шает |
| мы | слу́шаем |
| вы | слу́шаете |
| они́ | слу́шают |
This is about as easy as Russian paradigms get: take the infinitive слу́ша-, drop the -ть, add -ю/-ешь/-ет/-ем/-ете/-ют. If you can conjugate чита́ть, you can conjugate слу́шать. See the regular first conjugation page for the full pattern.
Я ка́ждый день слу́шаю по́дкасты по доро́ге на рабо́ту.
I listen to podcasts every day on the way to work. — слу́шаю + accusative по́дкасты; a habit, imperfective.
Что ты слу́шаешь? Дай поуга́дывать.
What are you listening to? Let me guess. — слу́шаешь, action in progress.
Они́ внима́тельно слу́шают учи́теля.
They listen to the teacher attentively. — слу́шают + animate accusative учи́теля, no preposition.
Past tense
A regular, gender-marked past off the -а- stem. Fixed stress on the слу́- stem throughout.
| Gender / number | слу́шать (impf) | послу́шать (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | слу́шал | послу́шал |
| feminine | слу́шала | послу́шала |
| neuter | слу́шало | послу́шало |
| plural | слу́шали | послу́шали |
The aspect contrast: слу́шал views the listening as a process or habit ("I was listening / I used to listen / I listened to it [over time]"); послу́шал packages it as one bounded act, very often with the nuance "listened for a while and then stopped" — the prefix по- here adds delimitative meaning ("do X for a bit"): послу́шал му́зыку и лёг спать "listened to some music and went to bed."
Я послу́шал но́вый альбо́м — мне понра́вилось.
I gave the new album a listen — I liked it. — послу́шал: one bounded act, perfective.
В студе́нчестве я ча́сто слу́шал джаз.
In my student days I often listened to jazz. — слу́шал: a repeated habit, imperfective.
Future tense
The pair forms its future the two standard ways.
- слу́шать (imperfective) → compound future: бу́ду слу́шать "I'll be listening / will keep listening."
- послу́шать (perfective) → simple future (the -аю-shaped endings on the prefixed stem): послу́шаю "I'll have a listen (once / for a bit)."
| Person | слу́шать → бу́ду слу́шать | послу́шать → simple future |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду слу́шать | послу́шаю |
| ты | бу́дешь слу́шать | послу́шаешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | бу́дет слу́шать | послу́шает |
| мы | бу́дем слу́шать | послу́шаем |
| вы | бу́дете слу́шать | послу́шаете |
| они́ | бу́дут слу́шать | послу́шают |
For "I'll give it a listen," послу́шаю is the natural choice; reserve бу́ду слу́шать for "I'll be listening (over a stretch of time / I'll keep listening)."
Я послу́шаю, что ска́жет врач, и реши́м.
I'll hear what the doctor says, and we'll decide. — послу́шаю: one bounded future act (perfective).
В по́езде я бу́ду слу́шать аудиокни́гу.
On the train I'll be listening to an audiobook. — бу́ду слу́шать: ongoing future activity (imperfective).
Imperative
Regular, formed off the present stem (stress stays on the stem).
| Addressee | слу́шать (impf) | послу́шать (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| ты (informal) | слу́шай | послу́шай |
| вы (formal / plural) | слу́шайте | послу́шайте |
Both imperatives have a life beyond literal "listen." Слу́шаю! (literally "I'm listening") is a standard way to answer the phone or respond to being called — "Hello? / Yes?" — and Слу́шаюсь! is the military "Yes, sir!" But the most useful one for learners is послу́шай / послу́шайте as an attention-getter: "listen…, look here…, look…" — the way English uses "Look," or "Listen," to preface a point. It softens or flags what comes next.
Послу́шай, дава́й говори́ть открове́нно.
Listen, let's talk openly. — послу́шай as an attention-getter ('look here…').
Слу́шай меня́ внима́тельно, э́то ва́жно.
Listen to me carefully, this is important. — literal imperative слу́шай + animate accusative меня́.
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | слу́шать (impf) | послу́шать (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| present active participle | слу́шающий "(the one) listening" | — (perfectives have none) |
| past active participle | слу́шавший | послу́шавший |
| past passive participle | — | послу́шанный (rare) |
| verbal adverb | слу́шая "while listening" | послу́шав "having listened" |
These are mostly (literary / written). The imperfective verbal adverb слу́шая "while listening" does turn up naturally: Слу́шая её, я по́нял, что она́ права́ — "Listening to her, I realised she was right."
Слу́шая ра́дио, она́ убира́ла кварти́ру.
Listening to the radio, she tidied the flat. — verbal adverb слу́шая ('while listening').
Key uses & collocations
1. слу́шать + accusative — no preposition
This is the headline point. English "listen to music" has a preposition; Russian слу́шать does not. The thing listened to is a plain direct object in the accusative: слу́шать му́зыку, ра́дио, ле́кцию, сове́т, учи́теля. There is no Russian word standing for the English "to" here. See the accusative direct object page.
Слу́шай свою́ интуи́цию.
Listen to your intuition. — слу́шать + accusative интуи́цию, no 'to'.
2. слу́шать кого́-то = obey / heed someone
With a person as object, слу́шать often means "obey, do as told, heed": Слу́шай ма́му! "Do as your mum says!", Он никого́ не слу́шает "He won't listen to anyone." (The reflexive слу́шаться + genitive — слу́шаться роди́телей — is the more pointed "to obey.")
Ребёнок совсе́м не слу́шает роди́телей.
The child won't listen to (obey) his parents at all. — слу́шать = 'heed/obey'.
3. The слу́шать / слы́шать contrast — listen vs hear
These two are constantly confused. слу́шать ("listen," first conjugation: слу́шаю, слу́шаешь) is active and deliberate — you turn your attention to a sound. слы́шать ("hear," second conjugation: слы́шу, слы́шишь — perfective услы́шать) is passive and involuntary — a sound reaches you whether you wanted it or not. You can слу́шать without слы́шать (listen but not catch anything) and слы́шать without слу́шать (hear it without paying attention). See the слы́шать / услы́шать page.
Я слу́шал, но ничего́ не слы́шал из-за шу́ма.
I was listening, but I couldn't hear anything because of the noise. — слу́шать (active) vs слы́шать (passive) side by side.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я слу́шаю к му́зыке. / Я слу́шаю на му́зыку.
Government error — слу́шать takes a PLAIN accusative with no preposition. There is no Russian equivalent of the English 'to' here.
✅ Я слу́шаю му́зыку.
I'm listening to music.
❌ Ты слы́шишь э́тот по́дкаст ка́ждый день?
Wrong verb — deliberate, attentive 'listen to (regularly)' is слу́шать, not слы́шать ('hear', passive). Use слу́шаешь.
✅ Ты слу́шаешь э́тот по́дкаст ка́ждый день?
Do you listen to this podcast every day?
❌ Я слу́шу му́зыку. / Ты слу́шишь му́зыку?
You've mixed in слы́шать's second-conjugation endings. слу́шать is FIRST conjugation: слу́шаю, слу́шаешь — not *слу́шу, *слу́шишь.
✅ Я слу́шаю му́зыку. А что слу́шаешь ты?
I'm listening to music. And what are you listening to?
❌ За́втра я бу́ду послу́шать но́вый альбо́м.
Aspect error — the бу́ду future needs an imperfective infinitive. The perfective makes its own future: послу́шаю (no бу́ду).
✅ За́втра я послу́шаю но́вый альбо́м.
Tomorrow I'll give the new album a listen.
Key Takeaways
- Model first-conjugation verb: слу́шаю / слу́шаешь / слу́шает / слу́шаем / слу́шаете / слу́шают — exactly like чита́ть, fixed stress on слу́- throughout.
- No preposition! English "listen to" → Russian слу́шать + plain accusative (слу́шать му́зыку). There is no word for the "to."
- слу́шать ≠ слы́шать: слу́шать = "listen" (active, deliberate, 1st conj); слы́шать = "hear" (passive, involuntary, 2nd conj). Don't borrow слы́шать's -ишь endings.
- слу́шать кого́-то can mean "obey / heed" (Слу́шай ма́му!).
- Past: слу́шал (process/habit) vs послу́шал (listen for a while — delimitative по-).
- Future: imperfective compound бу́ду слу́шать; perfective simple послу́шаю.
- Imperative: послу́шай as an attention-getter ("listen…, look here…"); Слу́шаю! answers the phone.
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- Present Tense: First ConjugationA1 — The first-conjugation present paradigm: чита́ть → чита́ю, чита́ешь, чита́ет, чита́ем, чита́ете, чита́ют, with endings on the theme vowel -е-. Covers the -ать stem class (де́лать, рабо́тать), the stressed consonant-stem variant (жить → живу́, живёшь), and the -овать/-евать contraction (рисова́ть → рису́ю).
- Verbal Aspect: The Big PictureA2 — Aspect is the spine of the Russian verb: nearly every verb belongs to a pair — imperfective (process, repetition, general fact) and perfective (a single completed whole with a result). This page explains the pair, the consequences for the tense system (perfectives have no present), and why you must decide 'process or result?' before you even pick a tense.
- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative marks the direct object — the thing a transitive verb acts on directly. Verbs like чита́ть, смотре́ть, люби́ть, ви́деть, знать all take an accusative object (чита́ть кни́гу, люби́ть му́зыку). Because Russian word order is free, the case ending — not position — tells you which noun is being acted upon, so every direct object must be marked. Object pronouns (меня́, тебя́, его́, её, нас, вас, их) are accusative too.
- Слышать / Услышать (to hear)A2 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair слы́шать (imperfective, 'hear/perceive') and услы́шать (perfective, 'hear, catch — once'). Full paradigms — слы́шу/слы́шишь/слы́шат with the husher spelling rule (-у/-ат, not -ю/-ят), the future услы́шу/услы́шишь, the past слы́шал, and the slippery contrast with слу́шать ('listen to').
- Видеть / Увидеть (to see)A1 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair ви́деть (imperfective, 'see/perceive') and уви́деть (perfective, 'catch sight of, spot'). Full paradigms — ви́жу with the д→ж 1sg mutation, ви́дишь, ви́дят; future уви́жу/уви́дишь — the missing imperative (смотри́ stands in), the past ви́дел, and the ви́деть vs смотре́ть contrast.
- Говорить / Сказать (to speak / say)A1 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the suppletive pair говори́ть (imperfective, 'speak/talk/say generally') and сказа́ть (perfective, 'say/tell — a single utterance'). Full paradigms — говорю́/говори́шь/говоря́т, скажу́/ска́жешь/ска́жут with the з→ж mutation — the meaning split говори́л vs сказа́л, and the contrast with разгова́ривать.