I hear/heard

Question

HelloCan you please suggest which tense I should use here:I hear/I heard that he is in the hospital now after .....Should it be "I hear" or "I heard"?Thank you

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

The present simple, present perfect and past simple are all possible. We don't use the with in hospital in BrE.

Hotmale · Answer

Thank you!

Teechr · Answer

Either one is fine.
"I hear" would be equivalent to "I understand", "I'm told", or "I believe."

Note that in BrE, you would say "in hospital" unless you're referring to a specific hospital.

[cross-posted with fivejedjon

]

BarbaraPA · Answer

To add to fivejedjon's response:

This is how I interpret the differences:

I hear -- this suggests to me that you have heard it from more than one person, at least one quite recently. It is still being talked about.
I heard -- this is quite normal. One person (if not more) told you, at some point in the past (that is, more than five minutes ago).
I've just heard -- this suggests you received this news very recently.
I've heard -- you heard it at some point, fairly recently.

But realize that as native speakers, we choose our tense automatically - we don't really put thought into which one we'll use.

Hotmale · Answer

BarbaraPATo add to fivejedjon's response:This is how I interpret the differences: I hear -- this suggests to me that you have heard it from more than one person, at least one quite recently. It is still being talked about. I heard -- this is quite normal. One person (if not more) told you, at some point in the past (that is, more than five minutes ago).I've just heard -- this suggests you received this news very recently.I've heard -- you heard it at some point, fairly recently. But realize that as native speakers, we choose our tense automatically - we don't really put thought into which one we'll use.

Thank you. I wasn't aware of the differences.

I hear/heard

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