Listening for Numbers and a Changed Plan
You hear a voicemail from your Croatian teacher, spoken at natural speed: "Dobar dan, ovdje profesorica Marić. U ponedjeljak nećemo imati nastavu u osam, nego u deset, jer idemo u kazalište. Molim vas da dođete petnaest minuta prije, dakle u devet i četrdeset pet, pred glavni ulaz. Ulaznice su dvanaest eura, ali za studente je osam. Molim vas da mi potvrdite dolazak do nedjelje u podne. Hvala i vidimo se." You wrote down "10:00, main entrance, 12 euros, confirm by Sunday" and are about to send your confirmation.
1. Compare what the teacher actually said with your notes. Which details did you record correctly and which did you miss or record wrongly?
Read the worked answer
Correct: 10:00 start, main entrance, Sunday deadline.
Missed or wrong:
- Arrival time. She asks you to come 15 minutes early, at 9:45, not at 10:00. Your note records the class time but not the required arrival.
- Price. The ticket is 12 euros for general admission but 8 euros for students. You wrote 12, which overstates your cost by 4 euros and suggests you missed the student rate.
- Deadline detail. Confirm by Sunday noon ("do nedjelje u podne"), not simply "Sunday".
This is the classic listening trap: the first number you hear (8:00, 12 euros) is corrected later in the message, and the correction is the operative information.
2. What exactly should your confirmation message say, and why does the Sunday-noon detail matter?
Read the worked answer
Your message should state: (1) that you will attend; (2) that you will be at the main entrance at 9:45; (3) that you are a student and will pay 8 euros (or ask how to pay).
Why Sunday noon matters: the teacher needs the final count before Monday, probably to buy or reserve tickets. A confirmation sent Sunday evening may arrive after she has committed to a number, leaving you without a ticket. "Do nedjelje u podne" is a hard deadline, not a general day.
Mentioning the student price is also useful: it confirms you heard the discount correctly and lets her collect the right amount in advance.
3. Suppose you only half-heard the message and are unsure whether the new time is 10:00 or 8:00. What should you do, and why is guessing risky here?
Read the worked answer
Do not guess. Send a short message asking for confirmation: "Molim Vas, možete li potvrditi vrijeme dolaska u ponedjeljak?" - polite, brief, and it protects you.
Why guessing is risky: the two possible times are 8:00 and 10:00, two hours apart. Arriving at 8:00 for a 10:00 theatre visit means waiting two hours; arriving at 10:00 for an 8:00 departure means missing the trip entirely. Because the message also asks you to arrive at 9:45, arriving at 10:00 would already be late.
Asking is low-cost and socially normal. The teacher explicitly asked for confirmations, so a clarifying question fits the situation rather than annoying her.