"¿Ellos no oyen?"

Translation: They do not listen?

[eevangoh]

Why is it that "they can't hear" isn't accepted?

[olimo]

There is no "can" in the Spanish sentence. Yes, "They don't hear" and "They can't hear" can mean pretty much the same in English, but from the point of grammar these sentences are different.

[rathimself]

But as a translation to English (which is what is asked for), "can't" is a valid answer.

[Aevitis]

Not necessarily, saying that I don't listen/hear and that I can't listen/hear are two very different things.

[mathchoo]

With Duolingo's focus on vocabulary with little to no context, it is usually best to go with the word for word translation.

[jkjacobt4]

Maybe they want you to focus on what oyen means differently. Sorry, dont know how to explain

[mikeylee48]

I answered "can't they hear" and it was accepted

[edivide]

hear= oir
listen= escuchar

[OmarRose2]

My thoughts exactly! I think this needs correcting. My native friend has specifically told me it's a big no no to interchange these 2 verbs

[MichaelK12]

Sounds like Duo talking about my kids

[SubEffect]

Is it listen or hear?

[nayoms]

I also thought of escuchar as listen and oir as hear. I suppose they can be used interchangeably?

[Roy563643]

Oír is not conciously like hear

[CorporalNewkirk]

I think there's a slight difference, but many times "to listen" and "to hear" can be used interchangeably. For example, in English you could say "We listen to the radio", implying that it's intentional and we are paying attention. If you said "We hear the radio", it seems more like background noise. If it's just a noise anyway, such as "We listen to/hear the obnoxious car alarm", then it doesn't matter.

[Mcarrollte]

oyen="hear"
escúchar="listen"

is this accurate?

[martind611973]

"Do they not hear?" passed.

[drmorts]

How about they are deaf ?

[doodyhead64]

I put "the boys don't hear" and it counted as wrong. Can anyone tell me why.

pls thanks

[Tim935982]

Why is it not "Do they hear?"