pay attention

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

pay attention (third-person singular simple present pays attention, present participle paying attention, simple past and past participle paid attention)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To attend; to be attentive; to focus one's attention.

   Please pay attention to the danger signs.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn't paid any attention to afore.

   • 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54:

     Just south of Wamphray station they overtook the runaway. The dim figure of Mitchell could be seen sitting huddled behind the stormboard. They shouted and whistled. He paid no attention.

Synonyms

• (to attend): give heed, pay heed, pick up what someone is putting down, take heed

Translations

to be attentive

• Afrikaans: gee aandag
• Arabic: أَعَارَ اِنْتِبَاه (ʔaʕāra intibāh)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: fikir vermək (az), diqqət yetirmək, diqqətli olmaq
• Bashkir: иғтибар итеү (iğtibar itew)
• Belarusian: звярта́ць ува́гу impf (zvjartácʹ uváhu)
• Bulgarian: насочвам внимание (nasočvam vnimanie)
• Catalan: prestar atenció
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 注意 (zyu³ ji³) (take notice of), 睬 (coi²) (acknowledge), 理 (lei⁵) (tend to; care about), 理睬 (lei⁵ coi²)

  Mandarin: 注意 (zh) (zhùyì), 注重 (zh) (zhùzhòng)

• Czech: dávat pozor (cs) impf, věnovat pozornost pf
• Dutch: opletten (nl)
• Esperanto: atenti
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Farefare: guuse
• Finnish: huomioida (fi), kiinnittää huomiota
• French: prêter attention (fr) (à), faire attention (fr), être attentif
• Galician: prestar atención, facer atención
• German: beachten (de), achten (de), achtgeben (de), aufpassen (de), Aufmerksamkeit schenken
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍉𐌽 (mundōn)
• Greek: προσέχω (el) (prosécho), δίνω σημασία (díno simasía)
• Hindi: (पर (par)) ध्यान देना (dhyān denā)
• Hungarian: figyel (hu)
• Ido: atencar (io)
• Irish: tabhair aird
• Italian: prestare attenzione (it), fare attenzione, dare retta
• Japanese: 注意を払う (ちゅういをはらう, chūi o harau)
• Khmer: យកចិត្តទុកដាក់ (yɔɔk cət tuk dak)
• Korean: 주의를 기울이다 (juuireul giurida)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bo xwe kirin xem (ku)

• Ladino: azer atansyon, azer dikat
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: animadverto (la), aspecto, attendō, audio (la)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: обраќа внимание impf (obraḱa vnimanie)
• Maori: matenui, mātorotoro, whakapaepae
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: følge med

• Polish: zwracać uwagę (pl) impf, zwrócić uwagę (pl) pf
• Portuguese: prestar atenção
• Romagnol: abadêr
• Romanian: acorda atenție, fi atent la, da atenție
• Russian: обраща́ть внима́ние impf (obraščátʹ vnimánije), обрати́ть внима́ние pf (obratítʹ vnimánije) (на (na))
• Slovak: dávať pozor impf, venovať pozornosť pf
• Spanish: prestar atención (es) (to a person), poner atención (to an idea or thing), tomar en cuenta, ^{(please verify)} pescar (es) (colloquial), estar pendiente, estar atento m, atender (es), asuntar (es), escuchar (es), fijarse (es)
• Tamil: கவனி (ta) (kavaṉi)
• Thai: ระวัง (th) (rá-wang)
• Turkish: dikkatini vermek
• Ukrainian: зверта́ти ува́гу impf (zvertáty uváhu)
• Vietnamese: chú ý (vi)