hacer caso
verbCEFR B1
What does “hacer caso” mean in English?
to pay attention to, to heed
to pay attention to, to heed (hacer caso + a + indirect object; negative: to ignore)
Example sentences
El médico le advirtió varias veces, pero él no le hizo caso y siguió comiendo lo mismo hasta que los análisis lo preocuparon.
The doctor warned him several times, but he didn't listen and kept eating the same things until the tests worried him.
¡Hazme caso! Si no empiezas a estudiar ahora, no vas a tener tiempo suficiente para el examen la semana que viene.
Listen to me! If you don't start studying now, you're not going to have enough time for the exam next week.
A veces me hace caso y a veces no; depende de si lo que le digo le conviene o no en ese momento.
Sometimes he listens to me and sometimes he doesn't; it depends on whether what I'm saying suits him or not at that moment.
How to use it
Hacer caso means 'to pay attention to', 'to listen to', or 'to heed'. It is used with an indirect object: hacerle caso a alguien (to heed / pay attention to someone). The negative form no hacer caso is extremely common and means 'to ignore' or 'not to listen'. The phrase hacer caso de + noun also exists (to take notice of something) but hacer caso a is more common in speech. Hacer caso does not take a direct object in standard usage — the person you listen to takes a or the indirect pronoun (le, me, te).
Common mistake
The indirect object is required: '*hacer caso alguien' without a or the clitic is ungrammatical. Also note: hacer caso a alguien means to listen to/heed a person; hacerse caso is not used. The negative no hacer caso = ignore — learners sometimes use the calque *ignorar, which is correct but hacer caso reads more naturally in many conversational contexts.