Infinitives: слу́хати (imperfective) / послу́хати (perfective) — "to listen, to listen to" Type: a fully regular first-conjugation -а-ти verb, stem-stressed throughout; the perfective adds the prefix по- (a bounded spell of the activity)
слу́хати / послу́хати is conjugationally trivial — it follows the same easy -а-ти template as чита́ти and гра́ти — but it hides the most persistent transfer error for English speakers. In English you "listen to music"; in Ukrainian you слу́хати му́зику with a bare accusative and no preposition at all. The verb already contains the "to." Add a stray до or на and the sentence breaks. A second pairing worth fixing early is слу́хати vs чу́ти: слу́хати is active, deliberate listening, while чу́ти "to hear" is the passive, involuntary registering of sound — you can чу́ти without слу́хати. Finally, the reflexive слу́хатися means "to obey," and it governs the genitive. Stress is marked on every form below.
Present tense — imperfective слу́хати only
Only the imperfective has a present. The stem слу́ха- is stem-stressed on слу́- throughout, with the standard first-conjugation endings.
| Person | слу́хати — PRESENT | English |
|---|---|---|
| я | слу́хаю | I listen (to) |
| ти | слу́хаєш | you listen (sg.) |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | слу́хає | he / she / it listens |
| ми | слу́хаємо | we listen |
| ви | слу́хаєте | you listen (pl./formal) |
| вони́ | слу́хають | they listen |
Я щодня́ слу́хаю по́дкасти доро́гою на робо́ту.
I listen to podcasts every day on my way to work. (Habitual present; bare accusative по́дкасти — no 'to'.)
Чому́ ти мене́ не слу́хаєш, коли́ я говорю́?
Why don't you listen to me when I'm talking? (Accusative pronoun мене́ — 'listen to me', the object directly.)
Вони́ ува́жно слу́хають профе́сора на ле́кції.
They listen carefully to the professor in the lecture. (Accusative профе́сора — animate, but still no preposition.)
Past tense — gendered слу́хав / слу́хала / слу́хало / слу́хали
Both aspects build a regular gendered past in -в / -ла / -ло / -ли, stem-stressed.
| Gender / number | слу́хати (impf) | послу́хати (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | слу́хав | послу́хав |
| feminine | слу́хала | послу́хала |
| neuter | слу́хало | послу́хало |
| plural | слу́хали | послу́хали |
The imperfective past is the listening process (вона́ слу́хала ра́діо весь ве́чір "she listened to the radio all evening"); the perfective marks a bounded spell of listening, then done (послу́хав но́вини й вимкнув "listened to the news for a bit and switched off").
Я послу́хав твою́ пора́ду і не пошкодува́в.
I took your advice and didn't regret it. (Perfective послу́хати + accusative пора́ду = 'heed, follow' advice — a completed act.)
У по́їзді ми мовчки́ слу́хали му́зику в навушниках.
On the train we silently listened to music in our headphones. (Process — imperfective слу́хали + accusative му́зику.)
Ді́ти зачаро́вано слу́хали ка́зку про драко́на.
The children listened spellbound to the tale about the dragon. (Imperfective слу́хали + accusative ка́зку.)
Future tense
The two aspects build the future in completely different ways.
Perfective послу́хати — the simple (synthetic) future
The perfective has no present; its present-looking forms ARE its future. Послу́хати means "have a listen, listen for a while," or, with advice, "heed." Stem-stressed on -слу́-.
| Person | послу́хати — FUTURE | English |
|---|---|---|
| я | послу́хаю | I'll have a listen |
| ти | послу́хаєш | you'll listen (sg.) |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | послу́хає | he / she / it will listen |
| ми | послу́хаємо | we'll listen |
| ви | послу́хаєте | you'll listen (pl./formal) |
| вони́ | послу́хають | they'll listen |
Дава́й уве́чері послу́хаємо ту нову́ платі́вку.
Let's have a listen to that new record tonight. (Perfective future послу́хаємо — a bounded listening session.)
Imperfective слу́хати — both compound futures
The imperfective forms its future two ways, identical in meaning: the analytic future (бу́ду + infinitive) and the synthetic -му form.
| Person | Analytic (бу́ду + inf.) | Synthetic (-му) |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду слу́хати | слу́хатиму |
| ти | бу́деш слу́хати | слу́хатимеш |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | бу́де слу́хати | слу́хатиме |
| ми | бу́демо слу́хати | слу́хатимемо |
| ви | бу́дете слу́хати | слу́хатимете |
| вони́ | бу́дуть слу́хати | слу́хатимуть |
За кермо́м я за́вжди бу́ду слу́хати ра́діо, а не музи́ку.
At the wheel I'll always listen to the radio, not music. (Imperfective future — a standing habit; bare accusative ра́діо.)
Imperative
The imperative is built from each aspect's present/future stem. The imperfective Слу́хай! / Слу́хайте! is extremely common — it both means "listen!" and works as an attention-getter ("look here, listen…"). The perfective послу́хай / послу́хайте softens it to "have a listen, do listen (for a moment)."
| Addressee | слу́хати (impf) | послу́хати (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| ти (informal) | слу́хай | послу́хай |
| ми (let's) | слу́хаймо | послу́хаймо |
| ви (formal / plural) | слу́хайте | послу́хайте |
| 3rd person (let…) | хай / неха́й слу́хає | хай / неха́й послу́хає |
Слу́хай, а дава́й піде́мо на конце́рт у п’я́тницю?
Listen, how about we go to a concert on Friday? (Слу́хай! as a conversational opener — 'hey, listen'.)
Послу́хайте уважно, я повторю́ лише́ оди́н раз.
Listen carefully, I'll only repeat it once. (Perfective imperative послу́хайте — a single focused listen.)
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | слу́хати / послу́хати |
|---|---|
| imperfective verbal adverb | слу́хаючи "(while) listening" |
| perfective verbal adverb | послу́хавши "having listened" |
The imperfective verbal adverb слу́хаючи is the everyday one — Слу́хаючи його́, я все запи́сував "Listening to him, I wrote everything down"; послу́хавши is (literary / written).
Key uses & case government
1. Direct object → bare ACCUSATIVE (no 'to')
The defining fact: слу́хати governs the accusative directly, with no preposition — слу́хати *му́зику, ра́діо, ле́кцію, по́раду, ти́шу*. English "listen to" makes learners insert до or на, but neither belongs here. Think of слу́хати as already meaning "listen-to." This is a headline entry in the case government of verbs; for the forms, see accusative uses.
Уве́чері я люблю́ слу́хати ти́шу пі́сля гала́сливого дня.
In the evening I like to listen to the silence after a noisy day. (Bare accusative ти́шу — no preposition.)
2. слу́хати vs чу́ти — active 'listen' vs passive 'hear'
Слу́хати is the active, intentional directing of attention to sound; чу́ти "to hear" is the passive fact that sound reached you. You can hear noise without listening to it, and you can listen hard without hearing a thing. Both take a bare accusative, but they are not interchangeable. Compare the perception pair ба́чити / поба́чити, where диви́тися ("look") : ба́чити ("see") mirrors слу́хати : чу́ти exactly.
Я слу́хав ува́жно, але́ нічо́го не чув че́рез шум.
I was listening carefully, but I couldn't hear anything because of the noise. (слу́хати = active attention; чу́ти = involuntary perception — the contrast in one sentence.)
3. слу́хатися + GENITIVE — 'to obey'
The reflexive слу́хатися shifts the meaning to "to obey, to mind, to do as told," and — unusually — it governs the genitive: слу́хатися *батькі́в, вчи́теля, ба́тька*. This is a different meaning of -ся; the governed genitive is covered under genitive of relation.
Слу́хайся ба́бусі, поки́ нас не бу́де вдо́ма.
Do as Grandma says while we're out. (Reflexive слу́хатися 'obey' + genitive ба́бусі.)
Common Mistakes
❌ Я слу́хаю до му́зики.
Government error — слу́хати takes a bare accusative; no 'to' (до): Я слу́хаю му́зику.
✅ Я слу́хаю му́зику.
I listen to music — bare accusative му́зику.
❌ Я слу́хаю на ра́діо.
Same error with на — слу́хати never takes на + the object: Я слу́хаю ра́діо.
✅ Я слу́хаю ра́діо.
I listen to the radio — bare accusative ра́діо.
❌ За́втра я бу́ду послу́хати ле́кцію.
Aspect/future error — perfective послу́хати already IS the future; never after бу́ду: За́втра я послу́хаю ле́кцію (or imperfective бу́ду слу́хати).
✅ За́втра я послу́хаю ле́кцію.
Tomorrow I'll listen to the lecture — perfective simple future послу́хаю.
❌ Ді́ти повинні́ слу́хатися батькі́в.
Stress/spelling slip — write повинні́? No: the form is пови́нні. Correct: Ді́ти пови́нні слу́хатися батькі́в.
✅ Ді́ти пови́нні слу́хатися батькі́в.
Children must obey their parents — слу́хатися + genitive батькі́в.
❌ Вона́ слу́хав му́зику.
Agreement error — a female subject takes the feminine слу́хала: Вона́ слу́хала му́зику.
✅ Вона́ слу́хала му́зику.
She was listening to music — feminine слу́хала.
Key Takeaways
- Model -а-ти verb: present слу́хаю, слу́хаєш, слу́хає, слу́хаємо, слу́хаєте, слу́хають — fully regular, stem-stressed.
- Government — the key fact: bare accusative, no preposition (слу́хати му́зику, ра́діо, ле́кцію). Never add до or на.
- слу́хати vs чу́ти: active, voluntary listening vs passive, involuntary hearing.
- Reflexive слу́хатися = 'obey', and it takes the genitive (слу́хатися батькі́в).
- Past: gendered слу́хав / слу́хала / слу́хало / слу́хали; perfective послу́хати (have a listen / heed) — never after бу́ду.
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