Infinitives: чу́ти (imperfective) / почу́ти (perfective) — "to hear, to perceive with the ears" Type: a regular first-conjugation -и- verb with a vowel stem (чу-); the perfective is formed simply by adding the prefix по- (по + чу́ти)
чу́ти is the verb for sound reaching your ears whether you wanted it to or not. That single fact is the heart of the page, because English collapses two ideas that Ukrainian keeps strictly apart: чу́ти is "hear" (the involuntary perception — the sound just arrives), while слу́хати is "listen" (deliberate, focused attention). It is exactly the pair of ба́чити "see" vs дивитися "look at." You hear a noise outside the window without trying; you listen to music on purpose. The verb is conjugationally easy — the stem чу- adds endings with a linking -є-/-ю- and never mutates, and there is no apostrophe in чу́ю despite the vowel cluster. Stress is marked on every form below.
Present tense — imperfective чу́ти only
Only the imperfective has a present. The vowel stem чу- takes the first-conjugation endings with a linking -є- (чу́-є-ш), and the whole paradigm is stem-stressed on чу́-. Note there is no apostrophe: it is чу́ю, not *чу’ю.
| Person | чу́ти — PRESENT | English |
|---|---|---|
| я | чу́ю | I hear / can hear |
| ти | чу́єш | you hear (sg.) |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | чу́є | he / she / it hears |
| ми | чу́ємо | we hear |
| ви | чу́єте | you hear (pl./formal) |
| вони́ | чу́ють | they hear |
The 2sg чу́єш? is also the everyday "(do) you hear (me)?" and a soft conversational filler — "you know?" / "right?" — much like English "you hear?"
Чу́єш цей дивний звук? Зда́ється, щось ка́пає на ку́хні.
Do you hear that strange sound? Something seems to be dripping in the kitchen. (чу́єш — involuntary perception of a noise, accusative object звук.)
Я тебе́ пога́но чу́ю, тут жахли́вий зв’язо́к.
I can barely hear you, the connection here is terrible. (The classic phone-call line — чу́ю + accusative тебе́.)
Сусі́ди вночі́ чу́ють ко́жен наш крок — стіни́ тонкі́.
At night the neighbours hear our every step — the walls are thin. (Habitual чу́ють + accusative крок.)
Past tense — gendered чув / чу́ла / чу́ло / чу́ли
Both aspects build a regular gendered past in -в / -ла / -ло / -ли. Note the stress detail: the masculine чув is a single closed syllable and so carries no written mark, but the feminine, neuter and plural are stressed on the stem vowel — чу́ла, чу́ло, чу́ли.
| Gender / number | чу́ти (impf) | почу́ти (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | чув | почу́в |
| feminine | чу́ла | почу́ла |
| neuter | чу́ло | почу́ло |
| plural | чу́ли | почу́ли |
The aspect choice in the past is meaningful. The imperfective чув / чу́ла describes hearing as a state or a repeated experience ("I used to hear it; I could hear it"), while the perfective почу́в / почу́ла marks the single moment the sound first registered — "I (suddenly) heard." A favourite idiom: Я почу́в, що… "I heard that…" (I got the news / found out).
Я почу́в, що ви́ переїжджа́єте за кордо́н — це пра́вда?
I heard you're moving abroad — is that true? (Perfective почу́в = 'I found out / got the news', followed by a що-clause.)
Усю́ ніч ми чу́ли, як завива́в ві́тер за вікно́м.
All night we heard the wind howling outside the window. (Imperfective чу́ли — ongoing perception across the whole night.)
Вона́ чу́ла ці́ ка́зки ще в ди́тинстві, від ба́бусі.
She heard these tales back in childhood, from her grandmother. (Imperfective чу́ла — a repeated past experience.)
Future tense
The two aspects build the future in completely different ways.
Perfective почу́ти — the simple (synthetic) future
The perfective has no present; its present-looking forms ARE its future. It is just чу́ю with the prefix по-, stem-stressed on по-чу́-. It means "will hear (at one moment)" or "will hear that / find out."
| Person | почу́ти — FUTURE | English |
|---|---|---|
| я | почу́ю | I'll hear |
| ти | почу́єш | you'll hear (sg.) |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | почу́є | he / she / it will hear |
| ми | почу́ємо | we'll hear |
| ви | почу́єте | you'll hear (pl./formal) |
| вони́ | почу́ють | they'll hear |
Не хвилю́йся, ти ще почу́єш про ньо́го — таки́х не забува́ють.
Don't worry, you'll hear about him again — people like that aren't forgotten. (Perfective simple future почу́єш.)
Imperfective чу́ти — both compound futures
The imperfective forms its future two ways, identical in meaning: the analytic future (бу́ду + infinitive) and the synthetic -му future. Both describe hearing as an ongoing future state.
| Person | Analytic (бу́ду + inf.) | Synthetic (-му) |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду чу́ти | чу́тиму |
| ти | бу́деш чу́ти | чу́тимеш |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | бу́де чу́ти | чу́тиме |
| ми | бу́демо чу́ти | чу́тимемо |
| ви | бу́дете чу́ти | чу́тимете |
| вони́ | бу́дуть чу́ти | чу́тимуть |
Звідси́ ти бу́деш чу́ти ко́жне сло́во зі сце́ни.
From here you'll hear every word from the stage. (Imperfective future — an ongoing ability to hear.)
Imperative
The 2sg imperfective is the bare чуй (monosyllable, no mark); the 2pl is чу́йте. The most idiomatic imperative is the perfective почу́й мене́! "hear me out!" / "listen to me!" — an emotional plea, stronger than a neutral request.
| Addressee | чу́ти (impf) | почу́ти (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| ти (informal) | чуй | почу́й |
| ви (formal / plural) | чу́йте | почу́йте |
| 3rd person (let…) | хай / неха́й чу́є | хай / неха́й почу́є |
Почу́й мене́, будь ла́ска — я не хо́чу з тобо́ю свари́тися.
Please hear me out — I don't want to fight with you. (Perfective imperative почу́й = an emotional appeal to be heard.)
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | чу́ти / почу́ти |
|---|---|
| past passive participle (pf) | почу́тий "heard" |
| imperfective verbal adverb | чу́ючи "(while) hearing" |
| perfective verbal adverb | почу́вши "having heard" |
The verbal adverbs чу́ючи / почу́вши are (literary / written) — Почу́вши крик, він ки́нувся на ву́лицю "Having heard a scream, he rushed outside." In speech a коли́-clause is normal.
Key uses & case government
1. The object — accusative
What you hear stands in the accusative, the case of the direct object: чу́ти му́зику "hear music," го́лос "a voice," шум "a noise," тебе́ "you." For the full picture, see accusative uses and the case government of verbs.
Я чу́ю чи́їсь кро́ки в коридо́рі — там хтось є.
I hear someone's footsteps in the hallway — there's someone there. (Accusative object кро́ки.)
2. чу́ти vs слу́хати — hear vs listen
This is the defining contrast. чу́ти is passive perception: the sound arrives at your ears whether you attend to it or not (я чу́ю му́зику "I can hear music"). слу́хати is active, directed attention (я слу́хаю му́зику "I'm listening to music"). Compare it directly with the ба́чити vs дивитися "see vs look" split — Ukrainian draws the perception/attention line in exactly the same place. One more subtlety: слу́хати takes a plain accusative (слу́хати ра́діо), with no preposition — there is no Ukrainian "listen to."
Я чу́ю, що грає ра́діо, але́ не слу́хаю — про́сто фон.
I can hear the radio is on, but I'm not listening to it — it's just background noise. (The whole contrast in one sentence: involuntary чу́ю vs deliberate слу́хаю.)
3. чу́ти про + accusative — "hear about"
To say you've heard about something or someone, use чу́ти про + accusative: я чув про цей фільм "I've heard about this film." With a piece of news, use the perfective + a що-clause: я почу́в, що… "I heard that…"
Ти чув про нову́ кав’я́рню на на́шій ву́лиці?
Have you heard about the new café on our street? (чути про + accusative кав’я́рню.)
Common Mistakes
❌ Я чу́ю му́зику ко́жен ра́нок, щоб прокинутися.
Wrong verb — deliberate, attentive listening is слу́хати, not the involuntary чу́ти: Я слу́хаю му́зику ко́жен ра́нок.
✅ Я слу́хаю му́зику ко́жен ра́нок, щоб прокинутися.
I listen to music every morning to wake up.
❌ За́втра я бу́ду почу́ти ві́дповідь.
Aspect/future error — the perfective почу́ти already IS the future; never after бу́ду: За́втра я почу́ю ві́дповідь.
✅ За́втра я почу́ю ві́дповідь.
Tomorrow I'll hear the answer — perfective simple future почу́ю.
❌ Я чу́ю за цю істо́рію.
Wrong preposition — 'hear about' is чу́ти про + accusative, not за: Я чув про цю істо́рію.
✅ Я чув про цю істо́рію.
I've heard about this story.
❌ Вона́ чув стра́шний крик.
Agreement error — a female subject takes the feminine чу́ла, not the masculine чув: Вона́ чу́ла стра́шний крик.
✅ Вона́ чу́ла стра́шний крик.
She heard a terrible scream — feminine чу́ла.
❌ Я слу́хаю го́лос за двери́ма, але́ не зна́ю чий.
Reversed pair — a voice that just reaches you is involuntary, so чу́ю, not the attentive слу́хаю: Я чу́ю го́лос за двери́ма.
✅ Я чу́ю го́лос за двери́ма, але́ не зна́ю чий.
I (can) hear a voice behind the door, but I don't know whose it is.
Key Takeaways
- Prefix pair: imperfective чу́ти (present: чу́ю, чу́єш, чу́є, чу́ємо, чу́єте, чу́ють) vs perfective почу́ти (future: почу́ю, почу́єш…) — just add по-.
- Past: the masculine чув (no mark), then чу́ла / чу́ло / чу́ли; perfective почу́в / почу́ла. No apostrophe in чу́ю.
- The headline contrast: чу́ти = "hear" (involuntary perception); слу́хати = "listen" (deliberate attention) — exactly like ба́чити vs дивитися.
- Government: the object is in the accusative (чу́ти му́зику, го́лос, тебе́); "hear about" is чу́ти про + accusative; "I heard that…" is перфективне почу́в, що…
- Imperative: чуй / чу́йте (impf), почу́й / почу́йте (pf); the emotional почу́й мене́! "hear me out!"
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- Слухати / Послухати (to listen)A2 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair слу́хати / послу́хати 'to listen'. Covers the regular present (слу́хаю, слу́хаєш…), the gendered past (слу́хав / слу́хала), both imperfective futures and the perfective simple future послу́хаю, and the imperative Слу́хай!. The headline is government: слу́хати takes a BARE ACCUSATIVE directly (слу́хати му́зику — there is no 'to'!), unlike English 'listen TO'. Contrasts слу́хати (active, voluntary) with чу́ти 'hear' (involuntary), and the reflexive слу́хатися + genitive 'to obey'.
- Бачити / Побачити (to see)A1 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair ба́чити / поба́чити 'to see'. A second-conjugation verb with NO consonant mutation but the -ать ending after ч (ба́чу, ба́чиш, ба́чить, ба́чимо, ба́чите, ба́чать). Covers the gendered past, both imperfective futures, the perfective simple future поба́чу, the imperative (диви́сь is the everyday one), the animate accusative-equals-genitive object (ба́чу дру́га), the reciprocal ба́читися 'see each other', the contrast with диви́тися 'watch / look at', and the farewell До поба́чення! literally 'until seeing'.
- Verbal Aspect: The Big PictureA2 — Aspect is the central, pervasive feature of the Ukrainian verb: nearly every verb belongs to an aspect PAIR — imperfective (недоко́наний вид), which views an action as a process, ongoing, repeated, or general (чита́ти), and perfective (доко́наний вид), which views it as a single completed whole with a result or boundary (прочита́ти). The consequences are sharp: imperfectives have a present, a past, and BOTH futures (бу́ду чита́ти / чита́тиму); perfectives have NO present — their present-shaped form is future (прочита́ю = 'I will read it through') — only a past (прочита́в) and a simple future (прочита́ю). Aspect is chosen for EVERY verb in EVERY clause; it is not optional, and it has no English equivalent.
- Accusative: Uses Beyond the Direct ObjectB1 — The accusative does more than mark the object — with в/у, на, за, під, через it marks motion TOWARD a target (іду в школу), it expresses bare-preposition duration (чекав годину 'waited an hour'), and it stands in a pivotal contrast with the locative: the same prepositions в/у and на take the accusative for direction (куди? в школу) but the locative for static location (де? в школі).
- Verb Government: Which Case for the ObjectB1 — Most Ukrainian verbs take an accusative object (читаю книгу), but a large core group governs the dative (дякую тобі, допомагаю мамі), the genitive (боюся темряви, потребую допомоги), or the instrumental (керую фірмою, ціка́влюся історією) — and the governed case is a fixed lexical property of each verb that English speakers must memorise, because none of these behave like English transitives.