Learn Hardcore Greek: Προσπαθώ να ακούω τις παρατηρήσεις της χωρίς να νιώθω άσχημα. - I try to listen to her remarks without feeling bad.

να ακούω (present / imperfective) focuses on an ongoing, repeated, or habitual action: to be listening / to keep listening.
να ακούσω (aorist / perfective) focuses on a single, complete action: to listen once / to manage to listen (at least once).

Here the idea is “I try, in general and repeatedly, to listen to her comments,” so the ongoing/habitual sense of να ακούω is chosen. If you said Προσπαθώ να ακούσω τις παρατηρήσεις της, it would sound more like “I’m trying (this time) to listen to her comments (at least once, successfully).”

What exactly does να do after Προσπαθώ? Is it like English “to”?

After verbs like προσπαθώ, θέλω, μπορώ etc., να introduces a clause in the subjunctive mood.
So προσπαθώ να ακούω literally means “I try that I listen,” but in English we translate it as “I try to listen.”

So yes, in meaning it often matches the English infinitive “to,” but grammatically it’s not an infinitive marker – it’s a particle that turns ακούω into a subjunctive form. You cannot drop it: ✗ Προσπαθώ ακούω is wrong; you must say Προσπαθώ να ακούω.

Why is παρατηρήσεις in the plural? Could it be singular?