oyendo

Oyendo is the gerund of the Spanish verb oír, meaning to hear or to listen. It denotes an ongoing act of perceiving sound and is used with auxiliary verbs such as estar, seguir, or continuar to form progressive tenses: for example, Estoy oyendo la radio. In everyday use, oyendo can describe the act of listening in a broad sense, whether one is actively paying attention or simply perceiving sounds around them.

Usage and distinctions are often discussed with oír and escuchar. Oír emphasizes the perception of sound, sometimes reflexively or passively: oigo un ruido. Escuchar emphasizes deliberate attention: escuchar música. Oyendo lies between these notions and can express ongoing perception or attention in context, for instance, Estoy oyendo a mi profesor o Estoy oyendo música de fondo.

Pronunciation and orthography reflect oír’s irregularity. The gerund is written as oyendo, with a y to indicate the sound shift from oi to oy. It does not carry an accent mark: the stress naturally falls on the second syllable, o-YEN-do, in keeping with Spanish stress rules for gerunds ending in -iendo.

Etymology traces oír back to Latin audīre, and oyendo inherits the same root through Spanish evolution. Related terms include oír, escuchar, and audición, which connect concepts of hearing, listening, and auditory perception in Spanish.

See also: oír, escuchar, audición.