The Number You Almost Missed
Goethe A1 Hören, Part 2: you hear a short announcement: "Der Zug nach Hamburg fährt heute von Gleis neun, nicht von Gleis drei. Abfahrt ist um vierzehn Uhr dreißig." You wrote "Gleis 3, 14:30". A question asks: "Von welchem Gleis fährt der Zug?" You are confident about the time but not the platform because "neun" and "drei" sounded similar over the loudspeaker. You have 20 seconds before the next audio.
1. Which platform do you record, and what is the reasoning?
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Record Gleis 9 (neun). The announcement explicitly corrects: "von Gleis neun, nicht von Gleis drei." In A1 Hören, a "nicht" correction overrides the first number mentioned. Your uncertainty about the sound does not change the logic - the sentence structure tells you which number is final. Write 9 now, during the 20-second pause.
2. Why is the time "14:30" not the answer to this question?
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Because the question asks "Von welchem Gleis?" - platform, not time. "14:30" is correct but answers a different question. This is the classic A1 trap: you hear two facts, one of which is a distractor for the specific question. Always re-read the question word ("Welches Gleis?" / "Wann?") before writing. Here the answer is the platform: 9.
3. You are unsure whether "vierzehn Uhr dreißig" is 14:30 or something else. How do you handle it?
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"Vierzehn Uhr dreißig" = 14:30 (2:30 p.m.). German 24-hour time: "vierzehn Uhr" is 14, "dreißig" is 30 minutes. If a question asked the time, you would write 14:30, not 4:30. Since this question asks the platform, the time is irrelevant here - but knowing the conversion prevents a wrong answer on a time question. At A1, times are usually given in this 24-hour form on announcements.