[srean]

I have always wondered about this. The verb for the first person is to 'see'. To a third person you 'show'

For the first person there is 'listen' (or 'hear'). Does English not have a corresponding word for the third person ?

What about Germanaic or Nordic languages ? Do they have a third person analogue of 'listen' ?

[onestay42]

AFAIK listen used to be used therefor[sic] but it has fallen out of use nowadays. From wiktionary:

> Listen the watchman’s cry upon the wall.

Edit: formatting

[srean]

'Hear the watchman’s cry upon the wall' works the same way, no ?

I have clarified what I am looking for in a cousin comment.

[munificent]

Interesting. This is indeed a funny gap in the language.

"Show" work for any sort of visual thing you might want to present to someone. It's a bitransitive verb: it takes both a direct and indirect object in addition to the subject:

    "Bill showed Marsha her new car."
     ^^^^        ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ 
     Subject     D.Obj  Indirect Obj.

For an auditory thing, our common words seem to subdivide it based on the sound source: "tell" for presenting speech to someone, "play" for presenting something musical:

    "Amy told Fred a story."
    "Bill played Fred a song."

"Play" has grown to encompass recorded audio, so is probably the closest thing to an auditory equivalent to "show".

There is also "audition" which can be used transitively, but I don't think it works bitransitively. You can say "I auditioned a bunch of saxophone recordings.", but you can't audition something to someone.

[srean]

Languages are so interesting, although I have zero talent in acquiring them. I don't care much for speaking them, pronouncing them right, but I do wish I could read some of the literature in their original language.

[msl]

In Finnish you might use "kuunteluttaa". You start with "kuunnella", "to listen" and inflect it in the way that turn a verb into "make someone verb". This particular example is a little unusual, but the same thing is commonly used with e.g. "taste". It works with all kinds of verbs, so it comes handy when you want your car serviced or your house painted.

[srean]

Thanks for showing :)

[smlavine]

"tell"?

[srean]

Ah! That's not bad but it's not the same thing. Good nevertheless.

I can 'show' (or point someone to a) a sight that I am not myself creating in anyway. The word I am looking for would mean to 'make you hear' in the same may to show is to make you see.

I showed him the distant tower.

I ??? him the faint sound.

[1718627440]

As the sibling points out show works for audio as well. Also vision is directed while audio is not. You need to look at some thing specifically in order to see it, you do not need to turn your head, to listen, the sound needs just to be there. You might need to alter your perception filter for both.

[thaumasiotes]

You appear to be looking for the word show, which is not specific to visual phenomena.

[srean]

I see (pun intended)

[ccozan]

play?

I played him the faint sound.

[srean]

Yes that will indeed work in a few cases.