聞く To Hear

Meaning

Primary

To Hear

Alternatives

To Ask, To Listen

Word Type

transitive verb, godan verb

Explanation

This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means hear so the vocab verb version is to hear.

Reading

きく

Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:

You need to hear something very important, but you can't. In order to hear, you have to take a key (き) and unlock the doors covering your ears. Go ahead and imagine yourself doing that, focusing on the key.

Context

Common Word Combinations

• 〜を聞く

  声を聞く

  to hear a voice

  話を聞く

  to listen to what someone has to say

  名前を聞く

  to ask for someone's name

• 〜に聞く

  森さんに聞く

  to ask Mrs. Mori

  先生に聞く

  to ask a teacher

  人に聞く

  to ask a person

Context Sentences

私は毎日ラジオを聞く。

I listen to the radio every day.

こんな事聞いて、すみません。今お金持ってますか？

I'm sorry to ask you this. Do you have some money on you?

五才の子でも先生の話をよく聞けるのに、大人のあなたが人の話を聞けない理由は一体何なんですか？

Why the hell can you as an adult not listen to a person, when five-year-old child can listen to their teacher?

Kanji Composition

1. 聞

   ぶん Hear