Pedir e ouvir no presente

Two Irregular Verbs You Already Use

You have been asking for things with pedir and listening with ouvir for a while. Both hide an irregularity in exactly one place: the eu form.

pedirouvir
eupeçoouço
tupedesouves
ele/ela/vocêpedeouve
nóspedimosouvimos
eles/vocêspedemouvem

Everything after eu is a regular -ir verb. Only peço and ouço need memorising — the -ç- keeps the soft s sound that a plain c would lose before o.

I ask the gentleman for the bill.
Eu peço a conta ao senhor.

Where They Take Their Objects

pedir takes the thing directly and the person with a: pedir um café *ao senhor. There is no preposition before the thing asked for — never *pedir por.

ouvir takes what you hear directly: ouço a música, ouves o professor.

I listen to the radio in the kitchen.
Ouço o rádio na cozinha.

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