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'I saw her leave': perception verbs with a bare infinitive

When you describe someone doing something that you see or hear, Spanish puts a plain infinitive straight after the perception verb: la vi salir (I saw her leave), te oí llegar (I heard you arrive). There is no que, no a and no de between the two verbs. The verbs that work this way include ver, oír, escuchar, mirar and observar.

English speakers trip over this for two reasons. English switches between I saw her leave and I heard him singing, so learners reach for a gerund by reflex. They also tend to glue a little word between the verbs, producing sentences like vi a ella a salir or oí que el teléfono sonar. Spanish keeps it simpler than that.

Word list
escucharA1 to listen Lo escuché cantar = I heard him sing mirarA1 to look Miraba jugar a los niños = She watched the children play oírA1 to hear Te oí llegar = I heard you arrive verA1 to see La vi salir = I saw her leave mirarA2 to watch Miraba caer la lluvia = I watched the rain fall observarA2 to watch Observé entrar a los invitados = I watched the guests come in verA2 to watch Vi caer las hojas = I watched the leaves fall notarB1 to notice Noté temblar el suelo = I felt the ground shake
How it works

The pattern is: perception verb + infinitive + the person or thing doing the action. The infinitive never changes. It does not agree with anyone and it does not take a tense.

Vimos pasar el tren.
(We saw the train go by.)
¿Oíste sonar el teléfono?
(Did you hear the phone ring?)

The doer can come before or after the infinitive. Vi a Marta salir and vi salir a Marta both mean I saw Marta leave. After the verb, a noun doer often sounds smoother, especially with things: vimos pasar el tren. The a in a Marta is just the personal a that marks a person as the object of ver. It belongs to the person and has nothing to do with the infinitive.

Rule of thumb: whether English says leave or leaving, start with the bare infinitive in Spanish.

The words
Hearing

Oír is the everyday verb for sounds that reach you. Escuchar suggests you were paying attention, although many speakers use it simply to mean hear.

Te oí llegar anoche.
(I heard you come in last night.)
La oigo cantar en la ducha todas las mañanas.
(I hear her singing in the shower every morning.)
Lo escuché tocar la guitarra en un bar.
(I heard him play the guitar in a bar.)
Seeing

Ver is the basic verb, used for a quick sighting or for watching something over time. Mirar means you are deliberately looking or watching. Observar is more attentive and slightly more formal, like watching closely.

La vi salir de la oficina a las seis.
(I saw her leave the office at six.)
Desde la ventana vi caer las hojas.
(From the window I watched the leaves fall.)
Mi abuela miraba jugar a los niños en el parque.
(My grandmother watched the children play in the park.)
Me gusta mirar caer la lluvia.
(I like watching the rain fall.)
El detective observó entrar a los invitados.
(The detective watched the guests come in.)

The same pattern also works with sentir when it means to feel physically, as in sentí temblar la tierra (I felt the ground shake).

Watch out
Pronouns go in front of the perception verb

Say la vi salir, not vi ella salir or vi a ella salir. With a man, lo vi salir is standard. In Spain you will also hear le vi salir, which is widely accepted for male people.

Reflexive infinitives keep their pronoun

If the action is reflexive, the se attaches to the infinitive:

Oí cerrarse la puerta.
(I heard the door close.)
A gerund is not wrong, but it means something slightly different

Vi a Ana corriendo is correct Spanish. It puts the focus on the action in progress: I saw Ana while she was running. The infinitive, vi correr a Ana, presents the action as a whole event you witnessed. When in doubt, use the infinitive.

A que-clause changes the meaning

Vi que salía means I saw that she was leaving, often in the sense of I realised it. That is a conjugated verb in a full clause. What you cannot do is mix the two: vi que salir and vi a Ana a salir are both wrong.

Summary

After ver, oír, escuchar, mirar and observar, describe the action you perceived with a bare infinitive and nothing in between: la vi salir, te oí llegar, vimos pasar el tren. Put object pronouns before the perception verb, keep the personal a for people, and use the gerund only when you want to stress that the action was in progress.