“Hear” is about the physical act of sound reaching your ears, while “listen” is about actively paying attention to what you hear.learningenglish.voanews+1
Basic difference
You hear sounds automatically, without trying. For example, you might hear traffic, birds, or people talking in the background even when you are focused on something else. Hearing is usually described as a passive, involuntary process: your ears and brain detect sound, but you are not necessarily focusing on it. By contrast, you listen (to) something when you choose to pay attention, concentrate, and try to understand or enjoy the sound, like listening to music, a podcast, or a friend’s story. Listening is therefore an active, intentional process that involves effort and attention.verywellmind+2
Typical usage
In everyday English, you usually hear noises, sounds, and events that simply happen around you, especially short or unexpected ones such as a bang, a shout, or a strange noise at night. You typically listen to things that continue over time and that you decide to focus on, such as a lecture, advice, the radio, or someone’s explanation. When you are giving an instruction, you say “Listen!” or “Listen to me,” not “Hear me,” because you are asking the other person to pay attention, not just to receive sound. In conversations, saying “I hear you” can mean “I understand your point,” but it still implies that you have listened with attention, not just that the sound reached your ears.ellii+3[youtube]
Grammar points
“Hear” is not usually followed directly by a preposition, though you do see fixed expressions like “hear about” news or gossip, or “hear from” someone when they contact you. “Listen” almost always needs “to” when you mention what you are listening to: “listen to music,” “listen to the teacher,” “listen to the radio.” As for verb forms, “hear” is irregular (hear–heard–heard), while “listen” is regular (listen–listened–listened). In informal English, “a listen” can even be a noun meaning “an act of listening,” as in “Give this song a listen.”grammar-monster+2[youtube]
Quick contrast examples
“I heard a loud noise outside” means the sound came to your ears, whether or not you focused on it. “I listened to a podcast about economics” means you chose to focus on it to understand or enjoy the content. “Did you hear that interview with David Beckham yesterday?” highlights the event itself as something that happened and reached your ears. “Did you listen to that interview with David Beckham yesterday?” emphasizes your action of paying attention to it. In summary, hearing is passive reception of sound, and listening is active attention to sound.naver+3