¿Me escuchas? ¿Me oyes?
I was wondering about the subtle differences between "oír" and "escuchar" in Spanish. I have been corrected many times when I have used "escuchar" in place of "oír" when I mean to say "to hear", and viceversa. However, I have noticed that many native speakers, including my brother in law, say "¿Me escuchas?" when the English translation would be "Do you hear me?" In fact I have never heard anybody say "¿Me oyes?." Are the two interchangeable? Does it differ by region?
5 Answers
The grammatically correct way to say it is using oir, however, colloquially people use escuchar.
No te escucho - I can't hear you Me escuchas ahora? - Can you hear me now?
Lots of people use escuchar this way, so feel free to do the same. Although as you've already experienced, you may be corrected.
Estoy solamente estudiando español, pero pienso que escuchar corresponde mejor a la palabra ingles "listen".
To talk about taking someones advice use seguir. To listen to what someone has to say, use escuchar.
Ok and to say " listen to him or listen to her advice, or listening is better than speaking". escuchar or oír?
Oír means hear and escuchar means listen.
¡Oye! by itself means Hey!
When people say "Do you hear me?", they really mean "Do you understand me?"; if they wanted to know if you were able to perceive the sounds they were making they would say "Can you hear me?".
