This post was originally posted on Babelhut.
Welcome to the first post of a new series at Babelhut.com, Spanish Verb Highlight. This series will highlight a different Spanish verb in every post, and provide several example sentences showing how the verb is used in different tenses.
The first verb highlighted is oír , which means to hear, or to listen to. Oír is an irregular verb, and one that I personally have trouble remembering how to conjugate. You have probably seen or heard oír in the form of ¡oye! , which is used to get someone’s attention in the same way that we would say “hey!” in English.
Let’s look at some example sentences, some of which I have pulled from the Spanish-English Sentence Database :
He tenido que dormir con tapones para no oír tus ronquidos.
I’ve had to sleep with earplugs so I wouldn’t hear your snores.
Oigo las sirenas muy cerca.
I hear sirens very close by.
Se oyeron unos gritos de dolor.
They heard some painful screams.
¿Has oído lo que han dicho las noticias?
Have you heard what they’re saying on the news?
Creo que oiga algo.
I think I hear something.
¿Qué estás oyendo?
What are you listening to?
Te oyó la primera vez.
He heard you the first time.
Add these sentences to the SRS of your choice so that you don’t forget how to use this verb!
Photo credit: CarbonNYC