Voicemail tasks test your ability to extract key factual details from short spoken German phone messages. Listen for the requested information and answer in the language specified by the question.
Understanding a phone message
Many voicemails tend to follow a rough structure, though details can appear in different orders. First identify the general situation, then focus on the exact facts the questions ask for.
- Identify the caller from hier ist… or hier spricht…, rather than the order of names.
- Reason for calling: The caller often introduces their purpose using phrases with wegen (because of) or weil (because).
- Situation: The speaker explains an event, a delay, or a change of schedule.
- Action required: The caller leaves a clear instruction telling the listener what to do next, such as returning the call.
Useful words and listening clues
Phone messages regularly deal with appointments, cancellations, and changes of plan. Learn these frequent verbs and nouns:
- der Termin: appointment or scheduled meeting.
- absagen: to cancel an arrangement.
- verschieben: to postpone or move an arrangement to another time.
- ausfallen: to be cancelled (Der Kurs fällt aus = The class is cancelled).
- abholen: to pick up or collect someone.
Weil means because and introduces a reason. Leider means unfortunately and expresses regret. Listen to the whole sentence.
Watch out for nicht … sondern (not X, but Y). Callers use this pattern when updating arrangements: nicht um zwei, sondern um vier means the meeting time is 4:00, not 2:00.
Watch for these number patterns
Numerical details such as times and quantities appear in almost every message. Be alert to these common patterns:
- Halb acht means 7:30: half an hour before eight.
- Units precede tens: zweiundvierzig means 42, not 24.
- Zwo means two and helps distinguish zwei from drei, meaning three.
- Um halb sieben means at 6:30; in einer halben Stunde means in 30 minutes.
Exam strategy and answer technique
Approaching the listening paper methodically helps you avoid missing simple marks.
- Before listening, underline question words such as Who, Why, Where and When.
- For these questions, answer in English as instructed. Keep people's names and place names as heard.
- Write times, prices and quantities as digits, such as 6:30 or €15.
- Give the number of details requested.
- If none is specified, include relevant facts you hear without inventing information.
Key terms
- die Sprachnachricht
- A voice message or voicemail left on a phone.
- der Termin
- An appointment or scheduled meeting.
- absagen
- To cancel an existing appointment, plan, or booking.
- verschieben
- To postpone or reschedule an arrangement to another time.
- ausfallen
- To be cancelled or not take place.
- abholen
- To pick up or collect someone from a place.
- zurückrufen
- To phone someone back in response to a call.
Check yourself
What clock time is meant by 'halb zehn'?
9:30 (half past nine).
Which digit does a speaker mean when saying 'zwo' on the phone?
Two (2).
What does the verb 'verschieben' mean regarding an appointment?
To postpone or reschedule.
In the phrase 'nicht am Montag, sondern am Mittwoch', which day is the actual meeting?
Wednesday.
What is the difference between 'um halb zwei' and 'in einer halben Stunde'?
'Um halb zwei' means at 1:30, whereas 'in einer halben Stunde' means in 30 minutes.