AURAL - News Pieces

Working the News Section: Format, Marks, and the '5 Ws'

Part IV of the listening paper delivers short, snappy news bulletins (Nachrichten or Meldungen). News items chosen for the exam are often short human-interest or unusual stories: an underage driver stopped on a motorway, a town banning disposable cups, or an eccentric Quidditch tournament. The unusual fact is normally the answer to part (i), so do not dismiss it as a joke or assume you misheard.

Working the Section in the Exam

• Listening is worth 20% of your overall grade (80 marks), and every answer must be written in English or Irish. An answer written in German receives no marks, even if it is accurate.
• Each audio item is played multiple times with pauses in between. Use the first playing to grasp the gist (who, what, where), and use subsequent playings to secure exact figures, dates, and reasons.
• Read every question before the recording begins and underline the instruction: Give two details, Name three reasons, or Give details.
• Marks per question vary. A question can be worth 4, 5, or 6 marks, sometimes for one substantial point, sometimes split evenly across two, three, or four details. State Examinations Commission (SEC) marking schemes always list more acceptable details than you need to score full marks.
• Write down the exact number of details requested, each on a fresh line in note form. If asked for two details, provide two clear bullet points, plus one safe extra if you have it. If the prompt says Give details without a number, aim for three or four distinct facts.
• Never write two contradictory answers hoping the examiner picks the right one (such as 'Platform 3 or Platform 8'). Conflicting statements cancel each other out.
• If you miss a word, write down what you heard phonetically and keep moving. Proper nouns and place names are marked leniently, but blank lines score zero.

The '5 Ws' Note-Taking Grid

Before each item plays, sketch a quick note-taking grid in the margin of your exam paper:

News Reporting Grammar: Passive Voice, Past Tenses, and Attribution

Radio reports focus on what took place rather than who carried it out. Journalistic German relies heavily on the passive voice, specific past tense patterns, and verbs that attribute claims to third parties.

1. The Passive Voice (Vorgangspassiv)

Recognising the passive stops you mixing up the person something happened to with the person who did it. The passive uses werden with the past participle (Partizip II) at the end of the clause:

• Simple past (imperfect) passive — Präteritum: wurde / wurden* + past participle. This is the form you will hear most often in news reports.

Zwei Autofahrer wurden schwer verletzt. (Two drivers were seriously injured.)

• Present Passive: wird / werden + past participle.

Das Rathaus wird renoviert. (The town hall is being renovated.)

• Perfect Passive: ist / sind + past participle + worden.

Das Geld ist gestohlen worden. (The money has been stolen.) Rule to remember: In the perfect passive, the past participle of werden is always worden, never geworden.

2. Perfect Tense with 'sein' vs Simple Past

Verbs of movement and change of state form their perfect tense with sein, not haben:

• Ein Lastwagen ist umgekippt. (A lorry overturned.)
• Der Zug ist entgleist. (The train derailed.)

In a formal broadcast you will also hear these exact same verbs in the simple past with no auxiliary verb at all:

• Ein Feuer brach aus. (A fire broke out.)
• Der Fahrer flüchtete. (The driver fled.)

Both forms describe completed past events and translate into English past simple.

3. 'Who Says So?' — Attribution and Reporting Verbs

Questions regularly ask According to the police, why...? or What did the spokesperson state?. Attribution verbs signal who is responsible for the statement:

• mitteilen: to announce, state officially (wie der Bürgermeister mitteilte = as the mayor announced)
• melden: to report (wie die Polizei meldet = as the police report)
• berichten: to report (Augenzeugen berichteten von... = eyewitnesses reported on...)
• angeben: to state, give as a reason (Die Polizei gab an, dass... = the police stated that...)
• erklären: to declare, explain (Der Sprecher erklärte... = the spokesperson explained...)
• laut (+ Dat.): according to (laut Polizei = according to the police)
• nach Angaben (+ Gen.): according to information from (nach Angaben der Feuerwehr = according to the fire brigade)

These verbs often trigger the reported speech subjunctive (Konjunktiv I), especially the forms sei (is/was) or habe (has): Der Minister sagte, die Lage sei stabil. You do not need to form the subjunctive yourself; simply recognise that sei tags the sentence as a quoted claim rather than an established fact.

Dates, Times, and Words That Sit Beside a Number

Numbers and time markers carry substantial marks in listening comprehension. Every news story is anchored in a calendar date, time of day, or specific statistical figure.

Dates and Times in News Items

Newsreaders frequently compound the day of the week and the time of day into a single word:

• am Montagmorgen – on Monday morning
• am Dienstagnachmittag – on Tuesday afternoon
• am Mittwochabend – on Wednesday evening
• in der Nacht zum Donnerstag – during Wednesday night / overnight into Thursday. This is a classic exam trap: in der Nacht zum Donnerstag means the night before Thursday (Wednesday night). Writing 'Thursday night' loses the mark.

Broad time anchors across months and seasons include:

• Anfang Juni – at the start of June; Mitte Juni – in mid-June; Ende Juni – at the end of / in late June
• ab dem ersten März – from 1 March onwards; seit Montag – since Monday; bis Freitag – until Friday

Dates use ordinal numbers: am dritten Mai (3 May), am zwanzigsten September (20 September), am ersten Januar (1 January). Years prior to 2000 are spoken in hundreds: neunzehnhundertneunzig (1990), whereas modern years use zweitausendvierundzwanzig (2024).

Words That Sit Beside a Number

Exam schemes award marks for the precise figure along with its qualifying word. Always transfer the qualifier into your English answer:

• rund / etwa / ungefähr / circa: around, approximately (rund zwölftausend = around 12,000)
• knapp: just under (knapp 500 Euro = just under €500; this does not mean 'nearly 500 and a bit')
• gut: a good, slightly over (gut zwei Stunden = a good two hours)
• über / mehr als: over, more than; unter / weniger als: under, fewer than
• jeder dritte Deutsche: one in three Germans; jede zweite Familie: every second family
• die Hälfte / ein Drittel / ein Viertel: half / a third / a quarter
• Prozent: per cent (dreißig Prozent Rabatt = 30% discount)
• doppelt so viele: twice as many; dreimal: three times
• mindestens: at least (mindestens fünfzig Personen = at least 50 people)
• höchstens / bis zu: at most / up to (bis zu sechzig Euro = up to €60)

Number Traps and Time Conventions

• Units before tens: German speaks the unit digit first (vierundfünfzig = 4 and 50 = 54, not 45).
• Teens vs Tens: Both stress the first syllable, so listen for the final sound. Suffix -zehn ends in a distinct n sound (sechzehn = 16, siebzehn = 17). Suffix -zig ends in a -ch/-k sound (sechzig = 60, siebzig = 70). The word dreißig (30) is spelled with ß but follows the tens pattern.
• Large figures: eine Million = one million (1,000,000), while eine Milliarde = one billion (1,000,000,000). Writing 'million' for Milliarde costs the mark.
• Clock times with halb: In German, halb means half an hour before the named hour. Halb neun is 8:30 (halfway to nine), never 9:30. Halb vier is 3:30. Quarter hours follow standard prepositions: Viertel nach acht is 8:15; Viertel vor acht is 7:45.

Thematic News Vocabulary: Emergencies, Crime, Politics, and Society

Familiarity with recurring story themes lets you identify the news category within the first few seconds of audio.

1. Accidents and Emergencies

• der Unfall / das Unglück: accident / disaster, crash
• der Zusammenstoß: collision
• die Rettungskräfte / der Rettungswagen: emergency services / ambulance
• ums Leben kommen / getötet: to lose one's life / killed
• ins Krankenhaus bringen: to bring to hospital
• die Sperrung / gesperrt: closure / blocked, closed
• der Sachschaden: property damage (hoher Sachschaden = heavy property damage)

2. Crime, Police, and Courts

• der Täter / die Täterin: culprit, perpetrator
• ein Unbekannter / eine Unbekannte: an unknown male / female
• der Dieb / der Diebstahl / stehlen: thief / theft / to steal
• einbrechen / der Einbruch: to break in / burglary, break-in
• die Beute: loot, haul
• festnehmen / verhaften: to arrest
• flüchten / auf der Flucht: to flee / on the run
• der Zeuge / die Zeugin: witness
• die Ermittlungen: investigation(s)
• die Geldstrafe / das Bußgeld: fine
• das Gericht / der Prozess: court / trial
• der Betrug: fraud; die Sachbeschädigung: criminal damage
• ein Sprecher der Polizei: police spokesperson; die Anwohner: local residents; Augenzeugen: eyewitnesses

3. Politics, Strikes, and Industrial Action

• die Regierung / der Bundeskanzler: government / Federal Chancellor
• die Wahl / wählen: election / to vote
• der Streik / streiken: strike / to go on strike
• die Gewerkschaft: trade union
• die Forderung / fordern: demand / to demand
• nachgeben: to give in, yield to demands
• die Verhandlungen: negotiations, talks

4. Society, Protest, and Environment

• die Demonstration / demonstrieren / der Demonstrant: demonstration / to protest / demonstrator
• der Protest / protestieren gegen: protest / to protest against
• die Flüchtlinge / der Asylbewerber: refugees / asylum seeker
• der Rassismus / rechtsextrem: racism / far-right
• die Solidarität zeigen mit: to show solidarity with
• die Initiative / die Kampagne: initiative / campaign
• das Verbot / verbieten: ban / to ban; die Entscheidung: decision
• der Umweltschutz / der Müll: environmental protection / rubbish, waste
• das Übergewicht: excess weight, being overweight (marking schemes accept 'obesity / weight problems' in health stories); abnehmen: to lose weight; zunehmen: to gain weight

5. Culture and School Traps

• die Veranstaltung: event; stattfinden: to take place
• die Meisterschaft: championship; die Mannschaft: team
• das Gymnasium: academic secondary school preparing students for the Abitur. This is a false friend; it never means a sports gym or fitness hall.

Public Reactions, Weather Bulletins, and Announcements

Beyond isolated facts, the examination frequently tests public reactions, weather forecasts, and travel announcements.

Reaction Verbs and Causal Explanations

Questions asking How did X react? or Why are Y opposed? require both halves for full marks: the reaction verb itself and the underlying reason introduced by weil, wegen, or aus Angst vor:

• begrüßen: to welcome (Umweltschützer begrüßten die Entscheidung = environmentalists welcomed the decision)
• loben: to praise (Der Minister lobte den Einsatz = the minister praised the operation)
• unterstützen: to support (Bürger unterstützen das Projekt = citizens support the project)
• kritisieren: to criticise (Oppositionsparteien kritisierten den Plan = opposition parties criticised the plan)
• ablehnen: to reject, oppose (Gewerkschaften lehnten das Angebot ab = unions rejected the offer)
• befürchten: to fear (Händler befürchten Verluste = traders fear financial losses)

Weather Forecasts: Systems, Comparisons, and Trends

A weather report (die Wettervorhersage) commonly concludes Part IV. German forecasts work through the country region by region rather than condition by condition, usually from north to south, finishing at the Alps.

• im Norden / Süden / Osten / Westen: in the north / south / east / west
• am Alpenrand / im Bergland: along the Alpine border / in mountainous regions
• ein Hoch / ein Tief: high-pressure system (anticyclone, sunny and dry) / low-pressure system (depression, rain and wind). Ein Tief refers to air pressure, not low temperature.
• Conditions: heiter (fair, bright), bewölkt / starke Bewölkung (cloudy / overcast), der Schauer (shower), das Gewitter / der Hagel (thunderstorm / hail), stürmischer Wind (stormy wind), der Nebel / neblig (fog / foggy), der Frost / die Glätte (frost / icy conditions), der Niederschlag (precipitation).
• Forecast structures: Morgen soll es Regen geben (There is supposed to be rain tomorrow); Es wird morgen regnen (It will rain tomorrow); Die Temperaturen dürften auf 18 Grad steigen (Temperatures are likely to rise to 18°C).
• Comparisons: So kalt wie gestern wird es nicht (It will not be as cold as yesterday); Es wird kälter als am Wochenende (It will be colder than at the weekend).
• The Temperature Rule: steigen auf means to rise to a final figure (steigen auf 20 Grad = rise to 20°C); steigen um means to rise by an increment (steigen um 2 Grad = rise by 2 degrees). Similarly, sinken auf (fall to) contrasts with sinken um (fall by). Höchstwerte indicates maximum daytime temperatures, while Tiefstwerte indicates overnight minimums.

Public Announcements and Commercial Adverts

Loudspeaker announcements (Durchsagen) and radio adverts (Werbung) appear in other parts of the listening paper rather than Part IV, but they test the exact same date, time, and number skills:

• Gleis / Bahnsteig: train platform or track (Gleis 8 statt Gleis 3 = platform 8 instead of platform 3).
• die Verspätung: delay (circa 20 Minuten Verspätung = roughly a 20-minute delay).
• ausfallen: to be cancelled (fällt heute aus = is cancelled today).
• Sonderangebot / Rabatt: special offer / discount (bis zu 30 Prozent Rabatt = up to 30% discount).

Key terms

die Meldung

An individual news dispatch, report, or broadcast item.

das Vorgangspassiv

The action passive formed with 'werden' + past participle, describing what is done to a subject rather than who performed the action.

in der Nacht zum [Tag]

Time idiom meaning overnight into a specific day, referring to the night before that day (e.g. 'in der Nacht zum Samstag' means Friday night into Saturday).

knapp

Number qualifier meaning 'just under' or 'scant' (e.g. 'knapp 500 Euro' = just under €500).

rund / etwa

Adverbs meaning 'approximately' or 'around' when qualifying numbers.

halb [Stunde]

Clock time convention indicating half an hour before the named hour (e.g. 'halb neun' = 8:30).

eine Milliarde

Numerical false friend meaning one billion (1,000,000,000), not one million.

ein Tief / ein Hoch

Meteorological terms: 'ein Tief' is a low-pressure depression bringing clouds and rain; 'ein Hoch' is a high-pressure anticyclone bringing clear weather.

steigen auf vs. steigen um

'Steigen auf' indicates rising to a specific final temperature; 'steigen um' indicates rising by a specific margin or amount.

das Gymnasium

Educational false friend meaning an academic secondary school, never an athletic gym or fitness club.

laut (+ Dat.) / nach Angaben (+ Gen.)

Journalistic prepositions meaning 'according to', used to attribute facts or claims to sources.

ausfallen

Verb meaning to be cancelled or dropped, regularly used for trains, flights, classes, or public events.