Learn Italian: Perché non ascolti? - Why aren't you listening?

In Italian, you usually drop the subject pronoun like tu (you) because the verb ending already tells us who is doing the action. The verb ascoltare (to listen) is a regular -are verb, and it takes the ending -i for the tu form, becoming ascolti.

Why does it translate to "aren't you listening" instead of "don't you listen"?

The Italian present tense covers both the simple present (you listen) and the present continuous (you are listening) in English. Depending on what makes sense in the moment, Perché non ascolti? translates to either "Why don't you listen?" or "Why aren't you listening?".

Can perché mean something else besides "why"?

Yes, perché is a very handy word that means both "why" and "because". If you wanted to answer this question by saying "Because I am tired", you would also use perché.

Where does the negative word non go in an Italian sentence?

To make a sentence negative in Italian, you just place non right in front of the verb. In this sentence, it goes directly before ascolti.