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- Topic: French >
- "Nous vous écoutons."
15 Comments
to listen = écouter
to hear = entendre
We hear you. = Nous vous entendons.
A literal translation is fine, but in English "We hear you" = "We are listening to you" are interchangeable. They have the same meaning. If anything, "We hear you" is more emphatic. The French (i.e. in a restaurant) have a lovely habit of repeating your question/statement in a different way, just to ensure everyone understands each other. This is the same kind of thing.
I am with you on this one. To me the conceptual meaning behind what is said is more important that a literal word for word translation.
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Hsve you ever had someone listen to you but not hear what you are saying? They are often not the same.
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i would complain about how overly picky the software is on spelling, especially for the translation into english but it wouldn't do any good.
I get why "I hear you" (entendre) works,( at least in English) without a preposition, but "I listen you"? Is there a grammatical explanation for this? Merci.
It's simply a different grammatical construction in French. Conversely, you can ask yourself why we need a preposition with "listen" (to) or "look" (at) in English, where it's not needed with similar sense verbs like "hear", "taste", "smell", "feel", or "see".
"Yourselves" is reflexive. You cannot use it if the subject is not "you".
Duo likes the long and unnecessary versions: " we hear you", is short, precise, and means exactly the same thing.
