I don’t know about you, but whenever I start learning a new language, I have the terrible habit of mixing up the verbs that correspond to “to hear” and “to listen” (and let’s not even get into “to watch” “to see” and “to look”!) Today’s verb is ascoltare which means “to listen” – let’s discover it now!
ascoltare
to listen
The origin of ascoltare is anything but a mystery – it comes directly from the Vulgar Latin ascŭltare. It is a super regular -ARE verb, making it very easy to conjugate in all tenses. Here it is in the present tense, for example:
- io ascolto = I listen
- tu ascolti = you listen (singular, informal)
- lui ascolta = he listens
- lei ascolta = she listens
- Lei ascolta = you listen (singular, formal)
- noi ascoltiamo = we listen
- voi ascoltate = you all listen
- loro ascoltano = they listen
Whereas in English, we have to include the preposition “to” when an object is involved, Italian does not require a preposition. So, for example, I listen to Beethoven would be rendered ascolto Beethoven, not *ascolto a Beethoven.
When talking about listening to music in general or as a habit or background activity, it is common to say ascoltare musica without the definite article la (the) preceding musica. However, if you are asking about a specific type of music, a particular genre, or when you are directly focusing on a specific musical performance (like classical or jazz), it is better to include the article. Compare the following examples:
Mi piace ascoltare musica mentre cammino.
I like listening to music while I walk.
Ti piace la musica classica?
Do you like classical music?
As in English, you can use ascoltare to ask someone to pay attention to what you are saying, in which case you might say (or yell out) the following commands:
- Ascolta! = Listen! (informal, spoken to one person)
- Ascoltate! = Listen! (spoken to a group)
- Ascolti! = Listen! (formal, spoken to one person)
- Ascoltami! = Listen to me! (informal, spoken to one person)
- Ascoltatemi! = Listen to me! (spoken to a group)
- Mi ascolti! = Listen to me! (formal, spoken to one person)
Ascolta quello che ti dice la mamma.
Listen to what your mom is saying.
So, if “to listen” is ascoltare, what is “to hear”? In everyday Italian, this would be the verb sentire – literally “to sense” – which can be quite confusing to English speakers given that it is used to describe three of the five senses: l’udito (hearing), il tatto (touch), and l’olfatto (smell). Here are a few examples:
- Senti quel rumore strano? = Do you hear that strange sound?
- Senti com’è soffice il cuscino. = Feel how soft the cushion is.
- Sento puzza di uova marce. = I can smell the stink of rotten eggs.
What’s more, it can be used to mean “to feel” as in the phrases sentire freddo (to feel the cold) and sentire caldo (to feel the heat). In its reflexive form sentirsi, the emphasis falls on how one feels on the inside, either emotionally or physically, rather than an outside stimulus. For example, if someone says mi sento stanco (I feel tired), it means that they physically or emotionally fatigued, whereas sento freddo (I feel cold) places the blame on the external temperature.
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
