Escuchar Vs. Oír (A Full Investigation)

They tell us that “escuchar” means “to listen” and “oír” means “to hear”. But then, in the real world, we see the EXACT OPPOSITE all the time-not only in a few situations. In this video, I’ll show you what is going on.
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[@Mendaz]

Hola Jordan, hace muchos años que veo tu canal, cuando se llamaba Gringo Español o algo parecido. Me acuerdo de cuando estaba en la secundaria durante mis primeros años como un aprendiz inciante y siempre veía tus vídeos para que entendiera mejora las reglas gramáticas del idioma. Ya pasaron 9 años desde que comencé a aprender español y gracias a mi conocimiento de español, pude enseñarme portugués a solas por hablar con nativos y usar dicionários para conjugar los verbos. Quería agradecerte por toda tu ayuda, que creo que tu manera de explicar las cosas es bastante entendible hasta para los que entiendan bien la gramática en inglés 🤗 Ojalá que un día puedas empezar a aprender portugués también jajajaja para crear un gringo portugués

[@paulsheen8646]

Hola Jordan, I now live in Spain and I can confirm that all my Spanish friends always use Escuchar for to listen and Oír for to hear when speaking. None of them said that they would ever consider using them the other way. I have also read a number of books written in Spanish and have never come across these two words used the other way around. However I would add that the books that I have been reading to improve my Spanish have tended to be of a more simplistic context sometimes written for children so maybe that is the reason that they stick with your “rule of thumb” for these two verbs. Just thought that I would share this with you. Great video and it will certainly make me look out in the future for any exceptions to the rule. Sigue con el buen trabajo!!!

[@elspanishdude]

Thanks for the report, Paul! I'm glad you liked this video!

[@johnharvey5381]

I won't give y'all a long story, but from my experience with Mexican co-workers, escuchar is used to mean hear.

[@marcsill453]

Great video!!! These two verbs have always stumped me, and now I know I wasn’t alone. 🙌🏼

[@elspanishdude]

Thanks, glad it was helpful! You're definitely not alone!

[@GreenGiant2007]

This was really interesting Jordan. Thank you so much for the hard work you did to investigate this and present us with your findings. Very much appreciated.

[@elspanishdude]

My pleasure! Glad you found it interesting!

[@lindasmith6668]

Thank you Sr. Jordan you're fantastic. I understand explanation. You made it very clear. Thank you again.

[@keithcoye6121]

You’re so smart!! Love you’re videos so much!!!!

[@marideldavocol4778]

this rule is a simplest and remarkable i've seen to be remembered between this two verbs. thanks 👍

[@andreamendoza9318]

Amazing! 👏🏼 I agree with you on that last advice!

[@elspanishdude]

Thank you, Andrea. Glad you liked this video and we're in agreement =)

[@lindsaysmith2510]

Great video. Thanks!

[@QrooSpanish]

Great video, Jordan. :)

[@susanwired]

Awesome video and research! I came here because I wanted to say “I heard that expression in a podcast” but the translator said I should use “escuchar” rather than “oír.” One note - I will say the examples from Yo No Soy Tu Perfecta Hija Mexicana may not be typical because the whole book is written in the first person by a teenage girl born to poor Mexican parents. The translator may be trying to capture a more colloquial way of talking. Just a thought.

[@YT-User1013]

Wow, another great video!

[@whbbrd]

Yes, this has driven me nuts for so long!!!

[@Hootyhoo-jq9vq]

Great to see you. I love your videos.

[@elspanishdude]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!

[@qroo]

Great video. In Mexico, escuchar is often used where I would expect oir to be used. One example is when people hear gunshots: Los vecinos dijeron que escucharon detonaciones de armas de fuego.

[@MissCarAndHerJoe]

Great video! Thank you!

[@elspanishdude]

My pleasure, glad you liked it!

[@ninadouglas7267]

Hola Jordan, ¡Déjame felicitarte por otro video excepcional! Se nota el esfuerzo que pones, el contenido siempre Preciso y presentado de una manera fácil de entender. ¿Estas seguro que los traductores de ese libro son “profesionales”? Muchas veces traductores traducen palabras sin tomar en cuenta “usage” me imagino que cada país latinoamericano tiene su propio usage, el que también puede cambiar de acuerdo al nivel de educación del hablante, pero ya tú sabes eso. ❤

[@elspanishdude]

¡Gracias! No estoy seguro de nada lol, pero lo que vi en esos libros coincidió con lo que escuché de los profesionales con los que trabajé... y varios comentarios en este video también lo apoyan. Parece que mucha gente en muchos países latinoamericanos usa "escuchar" para "to listen" y "to hear" mientras que otros no. ¿No estás de acuerdo?

[@ninadouglas7267]

@@elspanishdude sólo te puedo hablar de lo que hacemos en mi rinconcito del mundo, yo soy de un pueblito insignificante del estado mas pobre de Venezuela, la mayoría de la gente, en la época que yo crecí, nada mas terminaban el bachillerato, aunque teníamos clase de castellano desde el primer grado hasta el último año del liceo, no mucha gente no se preocupó por aprender a hablar bien, según lo que yo me acuerdo, aprendimos la definición de OÍR como el acto natural del oído de recibir sonido y ESCUCHAR cómo oír prestando atención, exactamente como tú lo explicas, pero para usarlo en la vida diaria, los dos verbos los usábamos como sinónimos. Amiguito, voy a hacerme miembro para obtener tu programa, cometí un Europe muy grace de no enseñarle mi idioma natal a mis hijos , decidí que nunca es tarde así que voy a empezar a enseñar le, aunque sea a mi hijo menor y sé que tu program va ser valioso para lograr mi cometido.

[@elspanishdude]

@@ninadouglas7267 Gracias por el informe. Y por hacerte miembro. Espero que mis cursos los ayuden. Siempre puedes ponerte en contacto conmigo por email si necesitas cualquier cosa.

[@cwtckness]

Jordan thank you

[@jhonyermo]

OMG another great video about something I 'was" 100% perplexed about. Muchas Tenkius Sr. Dude! HotDam!

[@elspanishdude]

My pleasure! You were perplexed for good reason! Glad you liked this one.

[@PETSWORLD_]

Jordan a great course you should consider selling is a "Vocabulary Builder Program." Where the top 1000 to 5000 (or however many you choose) are taught through context and we are given tips and tricks to memorize them. Just an idea cheers!

[@satishbabu6940]

Muchas gracias..

[@elspanishdude]

De nada!

[@taesenholmes2020]

Good stuff

[@MikePadilla82]

I don't know what it is but you are very good at explaining spanish. Thanks.

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

Some people are natural teachers! It is great when they figure that out and we benefit from those who do.

[@elspanishdude]

Awww, thank you so much, Mike. Really appreciate this message.

[@elspanishdude]

Thank you, Juan!

[@mamamoj]

yeah 4yrs in México & I barely ever *heard* oír

[@elspanishdude]

Very interesting! Thanks for the report, I appreciate it!

[@pedl7613]

im a native speaker, and a tip for having a better pronunciation is to instead of saying for exaple in the word "vecino" an "ou" at the end like "vecinou" dont say the "u" its a problem that lots of english-speaking people have Also, great videos :)

[@csepinter]

I think it boiles down to this. The rule of thumbs stands, except when "hearing" as in "was able to hear" (although it was faint), escuchar is the one to use.

[@jatindas4926]

Love from India 🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@elspanishdude]

¡Gracias!

[@livableincome]

Hola Jordan, I am still a beginner and have been doing ok, but am a little stumped on when to use ti or te and also mi or me. It must be obvious to everyone but me. Any pointers?

[@dympulls]

When I was studying in Cuba, my teacher told me never to use "oír" because it refers to the biological process of hearing....escuchar is to hear/ to listen. But I was corrected by various profs when I was working on my degree. It is totally regional, in my opinion!

[@elspanishdude]

Very interesting, Craig! Thanks for the report. That totally supports my findings. Some native speakers use "escuchar" for "to hear" and "to listen" while others DO NOT. Appreciate it!

[@YordanVG]

No te compliques amigo. Solo son sinónimos. Ambos lo usamos siempre,

[@Timba345]

Hola Jordan, I am trying to sign up for your lifetime membership on your website, but I'm not getting a confirmation email to make my account! Excited to get started, let me know if I may have done something incorrectly.

[@user-yn3yb7zc8g]

“The birds singing” translates to: los pájaros cantando.El canto de los pájaros would be: the sing of the birds. You don’t hear or listen a secret, you uncover , be told or or get the knowledge of it in spanish. There’s no possible literal translation. Me enteré de un secreto o descubrí un secret o me contaron un secreto In general the translation you use are cheesy. Like Jimmy heard someone open a door Your translation: Jimmy oyó que alguien abrió una puerta Translation could be: Jimmy oyó abrirse una puerta (someone gets to impersonal) Jimmy oyó a alguien abrir una puerta (most literal, but a bit weird) Jimmy oyó que alguien abrió una puerta would translate to English as: Jimmy heard that someone opened a door. Which is not the phrase you started with. Note the that clause you added in Spanish and the change in tense in open verb. Also scream would never be vitorear. Vitorear is to cheer, scream is gritar o chillar And you can hear or listen to music, just as you can oír o escuchar música. It depends on the intention of understanding. If you want to understand or interiorise the sound, then you listen,, if not, then you hear Please note this is from es-es Spanish context. Native spanish hear

[@ericbaugher]

I gave this video s like. I want to get coffee right now but I want to make a detailed comment in the future. For now great job.

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

Did you mean *detailed* comment?

[@ericbaugher]

@@JuanMoreno-wo5yb You are correct sir. How I hate autocorrect. I am going back and editing my comment thanks for the great job proof reading.

[@elspanishdude]

Thank you, Eric! Glad you liked this video!

[@Rusticsewing]

Book translators don't think in context. It depends on what something like "the sound of the radio" changes into throughout the whole book.

[@MissCarAndHerJoe]

Also, I’m interested in seeing the translations and opinions given to you by the professor from Costa Rica. Do you have a copy of the answers from the different regions? 😃

[@elspanishdude]

Here is what the person from Costa Rica said for the five examples in this video: --Jimmy LISTENS TO the radio every day. (both work, but "escuchar" is better) --Jimmy LISTENED very carefully to the lesson in class. (both work, but "escuchar" is better) --When Jimmy was studying, he HEARD a car accident. (both work, but "oír" is better) --Jimmy HEARD someone open a door. (both work, but if getting picky, may have slightly different meaning) --Speak louder, I can't HEAR you. (both work)

[@MissCarAndHerJoe]

@@elspanishdude Thanks so much for this, I really appreciate it! You're the best!!

[@elspanishdude]

@@MissCarAndHerJoe My pleasure!

[@tylere.8436]

That distinction isn't surprising to me as a Latin enthusiast: escuchar < auscultāre "to listen to, take heed to" oír < audīre "to hear" That is why Spain keeps the tradition while Latin America aren't always doing so.

[@PS-mh8ts]

what books do you follow for latin? is there a good website for latin? languages fascinate me a lot.

[@tylere.8436]

@@PS-mh8ts logeion is a great site for looking up Latin terms and their definitions Lingua Latina per se illustrata is a neat book to get you to read and speak it decently well.

[@dgoins6]

Is this similar to the difference between entender and comprender?

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

No entiendo porque no te escucho; pero si yo te oye me comprendo perfectamente bien. What’s the problem?!?

[@elspanishdude]

Hmmm, there might be some similarities. In general, "entender" and "comprender" mean "to understand" and usually used interchangeably. But, when used very specifically or together to contrast, "comprender" is a deeper understanding than "entender".

[@JakeNFamily]

Cuando vas a darnos un video del subjuntivo! Haha o ya has hecho uno??

[@elspanishdude]

¡Pronto! ¡Lo juro!

[@gjonmayerhofer9413]

Where are the 3 from?

[@nadasalamaadam6247]

How to watch the lessons in order please ? I'm new to Español

[@anna-wt2tz]

when I first came to this channel (maybe a little over a year ago) this channel was overwhelming for me. after a couple of months of reading books, watching shows etc, I came back to this channel. This channel is a treasure for me because when I have specific issues (for example I was trying to understand the verb haber, and I realized I should probably start with conjugating the past first, then the imperfect and so forth, but this channel helped me realize that, and guide me) I can come here and Jordan (the Spanish dude).clears it up for me. But as a COMPLETE beginner this channel can be overwhelming because there are so many topics. but watch his video called "how to learn spanish", and "how to learn spanish 2" this should clear things up for you, Buena suerte! 🖤

[@jordantheepicguy919]

ESPAÑOL si the best

[@lilianbaker8584]

How many t shirts do you have with random Spanish phrases/words on them?

[@tomas5577]

I listen to Spanish but I don’t hear it well 😢. I have no idea how to translate that.

[@elfmadchen]

It’s mostly interchangeable - what does “Oye Como Va” mean? Hear how it goes or Listen how it goes, lol.

[@SieraZ3]

"Oye" also translates as "Hey", so your example is probably translated as "Hey, how's it going"

[@elfmadchen]

@@SieraZ3 Not in this context, lol. The song is saying “listen how my rhythm goes” or “hear how my rhythm goes” Oye como va refers to the noun in the next line “mi ritmo”. It’s very unlikely a question but an imperative. “Cómo va” is the formal you (usted) conjugation, you wouldn’t say oye, you would say “¿Oiga cómo va?” or the informal “¿Oye cómo vas?” when you’re asking this question. But, “hey how’re YOU doing, my rhythm” makes no sense, if anything it’s “hey how’s my rhythm doing” but again the lyric is unlikely to be a question, but an imperative, an order to listen or hear “oye como mi ritmo va.”

[@SieraZ3]

@@elfmadchen what context? there was no context in the comment I replied to. And "va" is not only "usted" conjugation but 3rd person as well, hence I said "How's *IT* doing". In fact, type in "Oye como va" in google translate and then come back here and apologise for being wrong lol

[@elfmadchen]

And “the context” is oir vs escuchar. So “Oye Como Va,” the song, is the imperative of oir, oye, hear (or listen) to my rhythm. It’s not the interjection oye (hey), it’s the imperative. He’s asking “you” in imperative form to hear or listen to his rhythm.

[@SieraZ3]

@@elfmadchen dude, I have no idea what song you are talking about, or that a song with these lyrics even exist. You mentioned none of that. I tried to help without context, and I wasn't wrong. Take it however you can, I genuinely don't care. Have a good one!

[@montydiemer488]

Is it just me or does this guys voice sound computer generated?

[@RetardedSissy]

I think it's just you. AI isn't this good, or entertaining.

[@nickbrooks7171]

Everything in English is confusing like oir and escuchar. So don’t worry oir and escuchar is the only difficult thing in Spanish .

[@elspanishdude]

I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand what you're saying here.

[@nickbrooks7171]

@@elspanishdude I just fixed it . 10 % of Spanish is weird unlike 90 % percent of English which is very weird. Fyi i am an English learner

[@Tamara-ju3lh]

So basically do your best and if anyone acts like a language snob then show them this video haha

[@snikermom]

Omg! Your content is awesome but your presentation sounds like AI and a lot of the text is unnatural. It is muy difícil de escuchar. For example, you repeat “rule of thumb WAY too much” If you could work on that I think your audience would explode with Spanish learners signing up. But again, great content and hopefully my comment came across as constructive and not critical as that was my intention.

[@ericarizaazules]

Please work on your accent, I love your videos but it sounds like your not even trying to pronounce it correctly.

[@LidoBombs2]

We need more videos of you speaking spanish in the streets