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Beginning with the premise that a contemporary approach to analytic exchanges has become far more complex and multi-faceted than in earlier times, the author addresses listening, understanding and interpreting. The opening section presents the basis and utility of a proposed theory of five motivational systems and identifies the need for a shift from conceptualising ‘structures’ to systems. The nature of communication during analysis is considered from several standpoints including listening for needs and intentions, the place of theory as a background to listening, an optimal state for analysand and analyst, and the significance of the distinction between inner monologue and spoken discourse. Differing views of free association and narrative, especially questions arising from findings of the ‘adult attachment interview’, are discussed. The patient's sensitivity to the presence and influence of the analyst and the analyst's recognition of non-verbal as well as verbal communications completes this section. In the final section a brief clinical example is presented to introduce a differentiated depiction of the variety of interventions that analysts employ. Throughout the paper, the author presents his view of listening, understanding and interpreting in dialectic contrast with the many other perspectives held by analysts in this period of theoretical pluralism.