French Verbs of Perception

Verbs of perception are verbs which, logically enough, indicate a perception or sensation. There are six common French verbs of perception:

apercevoir   to catch a glimpse of
écouter   to listen to
entendre   to hear
regarder   to watch
sentir   to feel
voir   to see

These verbs may be followed by a noun or an infinitive. For example:

J'aperçois un arbre
I see (a glimpse of) a tree
J'aperçois tomber un arbre
I see (a glimpse of) a tree falling

J'écoute les enfants
I'm listening to the children
J'écoute parler les enfants
I'm listening to the children talking

J'entends les étudiants
I hear the students
J'entends arriver les étudiants
I hear the students arriving

Je regarde l'équipe
I'm watching the team
Je regarde jouer l'équipe
I'm watching the team play

Je sens le vent
I feel the wind
Je sens souffler le vent
I feel the wind blowing

Je vois le chien
I see the dog
Je vois courir le chien
I see the dog running

Note

In this construction, the French infinitive following the verb of perception is often translated by the English present participle.

Page 1: Introduction to French verbs of perception
Page 2: Word order with verbs of perception
Page 3: Agreement with verbs of perception