聞こえる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
聞
き Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Etymology

Originally /ki1ko2yu/. From lower bigrade 聞こゆ. [kikwoyu] → [kikoyu] → [kikoyeru] → [kikoeru]. The irrealis of 聞く (kiku, “hear”) kika + ゆ "[grammatical suffix]" in attributive form. Etymology reveals an earlier form: kikayu → kikoyu.

Verb

聞こえる (ichidan conjugation, hiragana きこえる, rōmaji kikoeru)

1. hear

   蝉 (せみ)の鳴 (な)き声 (ごえ)が聞 (き)こえる。

   Semi no nakigoe ga kikoeru.

   I hear the sounds of cicadae.

2. be audible

   彼 (かれ)の携帯電話 (けいたいでんわ)が、映画館 (えいがかん)の観客全員 (かんきゃくぜんいん)が聞 (き)こえるぐらいに鳴 (な)り響 (ひび)いた。

   Kare no keitai denwa ga, eigakan no kankyaku zen'in ga kikoeru gurai ni narihibiita.

   His cellphone rang loud enough for everyone in the movie theater to hear it.

   海 (うみ)が聞 (き)こえる。

   Umi ga kikoeru.

   I can hear the ocean.

3. sound, be taken as (give someone a certain impression from hearing)
4. be widely known, be famous

Conjugation

Conjugation of "聞こえる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	聞こえ	きこえ	kikoe
Continuative (連用形)	聞こえ	きこえ	kikoe
Terminal (終止形)	聞こえる	きこえる	kikoeru
Attributive (連体形)	聞こえる	きこえる	kikoeru
Hypothetical (仮定形)	聞こえれ	きこえれ	kikoere
Imperative (命令形)	聞こえよ¹ 聞こえろ²	きこえよ¹ きこえろ²	kikoeyo¹ kikoero²
Key constructions
Passive	聞こえられる	きこえられる	kikoerareru
Causative	聞こえさせる 聞こえさす	きこえさせる きこえさす	kikoesaseru kikoesasu
Potential	聞こえられる 聞こえれる³	きこえられる きこえれる³	kikoerareru kikoereru³
Volitional	聞こえよう	きこえよう	kikoeyō
Negative	聞こえない 聞こえぬ 聞こえん	きこえない きこえぬ きこえん	kikoenai kikoenu kikoen
Negative continuative	聞こえず	きこえず	kikoezu
Formal	聞こえます	きこえます	kikoemasu
Perfective	聞こえた	きこえた	kikoeta
Conjunctive	聞こえて	きこえて	kikoete
Hypothetical conditional	聞こえれば	きこえれば	kikoereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Related terms

• 聞 (き)く (kiku, “to listen”)

Coordinate terms

• 見 (み)える (mieru, “to be visible”)

References

• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.