# hear / listen, watch / see, search / find



## john_riemann_soong

I have a suspicion that these distinctions are characteristic of Indo-European languages, e.g. IE languages are most likely to make these sort of distinctions. Can any other people comment on their languages to see whether this is true? 

Basically, it seems that some of these verbs act like an "attempt/subjective form" of their counterparts, e.g. one can watch but not necessarily see, hear but not necessarily listen. I'm finding that for example, the "hear/listen" distinction doesn't carry so neatly into non-IE languages.


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## Flaminius

*Hebrew:*
Even though it is a Semitic language, Hebrew has all the three distinctions you pointed out (the following Hebrew verbs are in the praeterite as is wont in reference books).

hear/listen
שמע (shama`)
האזין (he'ezin)

see/look
ראה (ra'a)
הסתכל (histakel)

search/find
חפש (ħipeś)
מצא (matsa')


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:

listen - escutar
hear - ouvir

The distinction above is not observed by all speakers in all situations, though.

see - ver
look - olhar

search - procurar/buscar
find - achar/encontrar


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## ronanpoirier

In Hungarian:

listen - hallgatni
hear - hallni

see - nézni
look - látni

search - keresni
find - találni

And Hungarian is Finno-Ugric


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## papillon

Russian has all the distinctions, I suspect same goes for other Slavic languages.

listen - слушать (slushat')
hear - слышать (slyshat')

see - видеть (videt')
look - смотреть (smotret')

search - искать (iskat')
find - находить (nahodit')

Interestingly, the two verbs for listen/hear are distinct, but clearly related. I wonder if this may be the case with such pars in other languages.


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## karuna

*Latvian:*

listen – _klausīties_
hear – _dzirdēt_, but one could also say _saklausīt _

look – _skatīties_
see – _redzēt _but also _saskatīt_

search – _meklēt_
find – _atrast_, also _sameklēt_


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## parakseno

*Romanian:*

listen - a asculta
hear - a auzi

see - a vedea
look - a privi/ a se uita

search - a căuta
find - a găsi


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## elroy

Although not an Indo-European language, Arabic - like Hebrew - has all of these distinctions:

hear: سمع
listen: أصغى

see: رأى
watch: شاهد

search: بحث
find: وجد

In Palestinian Arabic, the distinction between the first pair of words is usually made with a preposition, but it's still there.

I can't imagine a language not having these distinctions - especially the last one!


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## elroy

papillon said:


> Interestingly, the two verbs for listen/hear are distinct, but clearly related. I wonder if this may be the case with such pars in other languages.


 It is in Arabic.   

Along with أصفى (_aSgha_) for "to listen," you can say استمع (_istama`a_), which is related to سمع (_sami`a_).

But this is no surprise, Arabic being a Semitic language.   The root س-م-ع (s-m-`) is the basis of many words related to hearing.


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## Honour

Turkish
See: Görmek
Watch: izlemek
Look: bakmak

Listen: Dinlemek
Hear: duymak/işitmek

Search: Aramak
Find: Bulmak


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## robbie_SWE

parakseno said:


> *Romanian:*
> 
> listen - a asculta
> hear - a auzi
> 
> see - a vedea
> look - a privi/ a se uita
> 
> search - a căuta
> find - a găsi


 
You're completely right Parakseno. I just want to give three other words that are used to express the verb "to find". 

*a afla*
*a depista*
*a descoperi* _(although it is more like "to discover")_

 robbie


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## olivinha

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese:
> 
> listen - escutar
> hear - ouvir
> 
> The distinction above is not observed by all speakers in all situations, though.
> 
> see - ver
> look - olhar
> 
> search - procurar/buscar
> find - achar/encontrar


 
Jazyk, if you don't mind, I'll add watch to your post.
watch - vigiar, assistir, observar
O


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian:

hear: _å høre_
listen: _å lytte_ (though I think _å høre_ actually covers some aspects of this one, as it's starting to fall out of the spoken language)

watch: _å betrakte_ (though _å se_ is used almost exlusively, so I don't know whether you can really talk about a separation like the English watch/look)
see: _å se_

search: _å lete_ (meaning 'to look for' (though it can also be expressed with _å se etter_), _å søke_ would be the literal translation)
find: _å finne_


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## Hakro

In *Finnish*:

hear : kuulla
listen: kuunnella
(These verbs obviously have a common root; the same applies to Hungarian, see post #4)

see: nähdä
look: katsoa, katsella

search: etsiä, hakea
find: löytää


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## Mutichou

In French:
hear: _entendre_
listen: _écouter_

watch: _regarder_
see: _voir_

search: _chercher_
find:_ trouver_


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## Thomas1

Polish has also these three distinctions:
hear-słyszeć
listen-słuchać

watch-oglądać
see-widzieć

search-szukać
find-znaleźć



elroy said:


> [...]
> I can't imagine a language not having these distinctions - especially the last one!


Yeah, I wonder which langauages don't make them.



Tom


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## betulina

In Catalan:

hear: _sentir_
listen: _escoltar_

watch: _mirar_
see: _veure_

search: _buscar/cercar_
find:_ trobar_


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## Hesterbeat

In Spanish:

Hear: Oír
Listen: Escuchar.

Look/Watch: Mirar/Observar
See: Ver

Search: Buscar
Find: Encontrar


In Galician:

Hear: Sentir/Oír
Listen: Escoitar

Look/Watch: Mirar/Observar
See: Ver

Search: Buscar/Procurar
Find: Atoupar


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## l10ner

In Simplified Chinese:

listen - 听
hear - 听到

see - 看到
look - 看

search - 找; 搜索
find - 找到


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## john_riemann_soong

^^ 

It was because I noticed that Chinese (and various other languages) have similar terms (e.g include the same root base) from which the other is derived, while the IE languages generally don't, I suspected it was an IE thing.


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## ger4

ronanpoirier said:


> In Hungarian:
> 
> listen - hallgatni
> hear - hallni
> 
> see - nézni
> look - látni
> 
> search - keresni
> find - találni


Adding Estonian:


Hakro said:


> In *Finnish*: *Estonian:*
> 
> hear : kuulla kuulma
> listen: kuunnella kuulama
> (These verbs obviously have a common root; the same applies to Hungarian, see post #4)
> 
> see: nähdä nägema
> look: katsoa, katsella vaatama
> 
> search: etsiä, hakea otsima
> find: löytää leidma


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## 810senior

In Japanese:

listen = 聞く _kiku
_hear = 聞こえる _kikoeru_

see = 見える _mieru_
look = 見る _miru_

search = 探す _sagasu_
find = 見つける _mitsukeru

_We use both _kikoeru _and _mieru _as intransitive verbs unlike english verbs _hear _and _see_.

For example:
*山が*見える(_ see *a mountain*) yama ga mieru
遠くから*歌声が*歌こえる( hear *a singing voice* from afar) to-ku kara utagoe ga kikoete kuru_


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