Learn Russian: Без четверти два мы слышим гудок, но ещё успеваем на поезд. - At a quarter to two we hear the horn, but we are still making it to the train.

The preposition без (without) always takes the Genitive case, which is why the feminine noun четверть (quarter) changes to четверти. The upcoming hour, два, stays in the Nominative case. Literally, this means "without a quarter, two".

Notice there is no Russian word for "At" in this sentence. Why not?

When you express that an event happens at a specific time using the без + Genitive structure, you do not need the preposition в (at). You simply state the time phrase starting with без.

Why is the verb слышать conjugated as слышим instead of "слышаем"?

Слышать (to hear) is one of the classic exception verbs. Even though it ends in -ать, it follows the second conjugation pattern (just like most -ить verbs). Therefore, the "we" form is слышим.

How does успеваем на поезд translate to "making it to the train"?

The verb успевать usually means "to have enough time" or "to manage". When combined with the preposition на and the Accusative case (here, на поезд), it becomes the standard Russian idiom for "catching" or "making it onto" a form of public transportation.