# can you hear me?



## Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I am dialing someone, and someone picks up a phone, but I can't hear anything. How can I say "can you hear me?"

Kuuletko minua?


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## Gavril

_Kuuletko minua? _sounds fine to me.


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## Hakro

_Kuuletko minua? _is a perfect phrase. Often people just shout _HALOO!_ in a loud voice.


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## 盲人瞎馬

Why not kuuletko minut?


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## Gavril

Vitalore said:


> Why not kuuletko minut?



One reason is that you're asking about an ongoing action -- whether the person hears you right now, as you're talking -- rather than a complete action. Since the action is imperfective, the object (you = _sinä_) goes into the partitive rather than the accusative.

I don't know if _kuulla _is a verb that always takes the partitive, but even if it weren't, there would be a reason to use it in this case.


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> I don't know if kuulla is a verb that always takes the partitive, but even if it weren't, there would be a reason to use it in this case.


Not always, for example kuulin äänen and kuulin ääntä are both possible but they have a little different meaning, as explained here.

In some rare occasions the accusative is possible: _Yön pimeydessä kuulin sinut mutta en voinut nähdä sinua_. (In the dark night I heard you (I heard you were there) but I couldn't see you.) Here _kuulin sinut_ can mean either "I heard your voice" or "I heard you doing something".


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> I don't know if kuulla is a verb that always takes the partitive, but even if it weren't, there would be a reason to use it in this case.


Not always, for example kuulin äänen and kuulin ääntä are both possible but they have a little different meaning, as explained here.

In some rare occasions the accusative is possible: _Yön pimeydessä kuulin sinut mutta en voinut nähdä sinua_. (In the dark night I heard you (I heard you were there) but I couldn't see you.) Here _kuulin sinut_ can mean either "I heard your voice" or "I heard you doing something".


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