Listening and hearing in Polish

[David680268]

Hi all,

I am still working on the absolute basics of the Polish language. Today I have a question concerning "hearing" and "listening". Am I correct in assuming that "to listen to sth/so. = słuchać kogoś/czegoś", so genitive case, but "to hear sth. = słyszeć coś", accusative case?
Examples:

Słucham radia.

Słyszę twoją komórkę.

[Davey944676]

Yes, you are correct - słuchać takes genitive and słyszeć takes accusative. Below is a quick copypasted list of some other verbs which take genitive (or sometimes take genitive).

It is worth looking at e.g Wiktionary to look at the individual verbs, as usage information is often included. Plucking "próbować" at random from that list below, for example, you can see on the wiktionary page that it takes genitive, but also sometimes takes accusative or instrumental.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/próbować

Good luck!

bać się – be afraid of.
brakować – lack.
dokonywać / dokonać – perform.
domagać się – demand/call for.
dotyczyć – concern/apply to.
dotykać / dotknąć – touch.
doznawać / doznać – experience/undergo.
lękać się – fear.
obawiać się – fear.
nienawidzić / znienawidzić – hate.
oczekiwać – expect.
odmawiać / odmówić – refuse/reject/deny.
pilnować / przypilnować – tend/look after.
potrzebować – need.
pragnąć – desire.
próbować / spróbować – attempt/try.
słuchać / posłuchać – listen.
spodziewać się – expect.
szukać / poszukać – search/look for.
uczyć / nauczyć – teach.
udzielać / udzielić – give/provide.
unikać / uniknąć – avoid.
używać / użyć – use.
wymagać – demand/require.
zabraniać / zabronić – forbid/ban.
zakazywać / zakazać – forbid/ban.
żałować / pożałować – regret.
życzyć – wish. (As in e.g. to wish something to someone, rather than to wish FOR something)

[David680268]

Yes, you are correct - słuchać takes genitive and słyszeć takes accusative. Below is a quick copypasted list of some other verbs which take genitive (or sometimes take genitive).

It is worth looking at e.g Wiktionary to look at the individual verbs, as usage information is often included. Plucking "próbować" at random from that list below, for example, you can see on the wiktionary page that it takes genitive, but also sometimes takes accusative or instrumental.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/próbować

Good luck!

Thank you for your help! Wiktionary is a great resource. I have mostly used it whenever I came across Russian words that are so strange that I can't even find them in a normal dictionary, for example because I can't identify their infinitive or nominative form. I never thought about using it to find the correct cases associated with verbs.