listen to sb/sth
phrasal verb.phrasal verb. To give your attention to a sound, or to someone who is speaking. You use your ears to hear what is being said or played.
phrasal verb. To direct one's auditory attention towards a sound source. This is a prepositional verb; 'listen' is intransitive and requires the preposition 'to' to take an object.
I listen to music in the car.
The children sat quietly and listened to the story.
She would often sit by the window, listening to the rain and thinking about the choices she had made.
The object is the sound, person, or medium (like a podcast or the radio) that you are paying attention to.
Contrast with 'hear', which is about the ability to perceive sound, whereas 'listen to' is the intentional act of paying attention to it.
He is listening the radio.He is listening to the radio.The verb 'listen' always requires the preposition 'to' before its object.
Last updated April 24, 2026