What Is A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 for French?

A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 are the six levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, usually shortened to CEFR. It was developed by the Council of Europe so that language ability means the same thing whether you are in Lyon, Leeds or Montreal.

A is a basic user, B is an independent user, C is a proficient user. Each letter contains two levels, and the gap between them widens as you climb.

The official descriptions live on the Council of Europe website, though they are written in the careful language of policy documents. Here is the plain version.

What can I actually do at each French level?

A1, the beginner

You can introduce yourself, say where you live, ask where things are and order in a cafe. You understand slow, clear speech about immediate practical things.

Everything is present tense and short sentences. You are relying heavily on the other person being patient and speaking like a textbook. Real French, spoken at real speed, is still noise.

Vocabulary at this level sits somewhere around 500 to 700 words.

A2, the elementary user

You handle routine exchanges. Shopping, directions, describing your family, saying what you do for work, talking about the past in simple terms with passé composé.

The change from A1 is that you can now have a short exchange rather than deliver a prepared line. You still need people to slow down, and you still lose the thread when two French people talk to each other.

Roughly 1,200 to 1,500 words.

B1, where French becomes usable

This is the level most learners should aim for first, and the one where the effort starts paying off in an obvious way.

You can deal with most situations that come up while travelling. You can explain an opinion and give reasons for it. You can follow a conversation between two native speakers, provided they are not in a hurry and not using slang.

B1 is also where a lot of people first say the language clicked. You stop translating every sentence and start thinking in fragments of French.

Roughly 2,500 to 3,000 words.

B2, the independent user

You can hold a conversation with a native speaker without either of you working hard at it. You follow the news, argue a point, work in French.

B2 matters practically more than any other level. Most universities that teach in French set B2 as their admission bar, most employers asking for French mean B2, and it appears constantly in visa and residency requirements.

It is also the level where most learners stall, because the distance from B1 to B2 is longer than anything before it.

Roughly 4,000 to 5,000 words.

C1, the advanced user

You use French flexibly across social, academic and professional life. You catch implication, register and humour. You can read a novel without a dictionary beside you.

You are no longer translating in your head. You still make mistakes, and you no longer notice most of them.

Roughly 8,000 words and upward.

C2, mastery

You understand essentially everything you hear and read, and you express yourself precisely, including fine shades of meaning in complex situations.

One thing worth clearing up. C2 is not native speaker level and the framework never claimed it was. It describes a very high level of trained proficiency. Plenty of native speakers would not pass a C2 exam, because it tests skills like summarising an academic argument that have nothing to do with growing up speaking a language.

How long does each French level take?

The most commonly used estimates come from the Alliance Française and are counted in guided learning hours, meaning taught time plus homework. They are cumulative from zero.

• A1: around 60 to 100 hours
• A2: around 160 to 200 hours
• B1: around 360 to 400 hours
• B2: around 560 to 650 hours
• C1: around 810 to 950 hours
• C2: around 1,060 to 1,200 hours

Look at the gaps rather than the totals. Nothing to A1 costs you under 100 hours. B1 to B2 costs you around 200 more. B2 to C1 costs you another 250 or so. Each level demands more work than the one before it while producing less visible change, which is exactly why motivation tends to collapse in the middle.

Your own timeline will differ. Speakers of Spanish, Italian or Portuguese move faster because the grammar and vocabulary overlap heavily. English speakers get some of this too, since a large share of English vocabulary arrived from French. People living in France move faster again, because the hours accumulate whether they plan them or not.

Which French exam matches which level?

The official French language qualifications are administered by France Éducation International on behalf of the French Ministry of Education.

• DELF covers A1, A2, B1 and B2. Each is a separate, independent exam. You do not have to take them in order and you do not need a lower one to sit a higher one.
• DALF covers C1 and C2, on the same basis.
• TCF and TEF work differently. Rather than passing or failing a fixed level, you sit one test and receive a result placing you somewhere across the six bands.

The distinction that catches people out is validity. DELF and DALF diplomas are valid for life. TCF and TEF results expire, typically after two years.

Which French test does Canadian immigration accept?

This trips up a lot of people, so it is worth being precise.

For Express Entry and most economic immigration programmes, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada accepts only two French tests: TEF Canada and TCF Canada. DELF and DALF are not accepted for Express Entry, despite being the better known qualifications. They can be used as proof of French for citizenship applications, which is a different process with different rules.

The other thing to know is that IRCC does not read CEFR levels directly. It converts your result into NCLC, the French side of the Canadian Language Benchmarks, and that number is what your application is assessed on. A CEFR level on your certificate is useful context and is not the figure that decides anything.

Results must be less than two years old both when you create your profile and when you apply. Requirements change, so check the current list of accepted language tests on Canada.ca before booking anything. These exams are not cheap and the wrong one is money gone.

How do I find out my current French level?

Three options, in ascending order of reliability.

Read the descriptors honestly. The Council of Europe self assessment grid describes what you can do at each level. Be strict with yourself. The common error is claiming a level you can perform on a good day rather than the one you can perform reliably.

Take a free online placement test. Most language schools offer one. They are decent at separating A from B, weaker at telling B1 from B2, and they almost never test speaking, which is where most people are weakest.

Have a conversation with a French teacher. Twenty minutes with someone who assesses learners for a living will place you more accurately than any test. It is also the only method that tests production rather than recognition.

Expect a split result. It is completely normal to read at B1 and speak at A2, because reading and listening grow faster than speaking and writing. The level you claim should be your weakest skill, not your strongest.

Which level should I aim for?

Learning for travel and pleasure. A2 makes a holiday noticeably easier. B1 makes it enjoyable, because you can have actual conversations rather than transactions.

Learning for work or study. Find the exact requirement before you plan anything. B2 is the most common bar and it is a serious commitment, somewhere around 600 hours from zero.

Learning for immigration. The required score and the accepted test are set by the immigration authority, not by you, and they vary by country and by visa route. Confirm both before you start studying, not after.

No fixed goal. Aim for B1 and reassess when you get there. It is the point where French stops being a subject you study and starts being a language you use, and that shift changes how you feel about continuing.

Why levels are worth using at all

You do not need a certificate. Most learners never sit an exam.

What the levels give you, even unofficially, is a way to answer the two questions that otherwise have no answer. Where am I, and what should I learn next. Without them you are picking vocabulary at random and wondering why some of it feels impossibly hard while other parts feel like revision.

Studying at the wrong level is one of the quieter reasons people give up. Material that is too easy is boring and material that is too hard is demoralising, and both feel like the same thing from the inside, which is the sense that French is not working for you.

LanguaCards sorts every word by CEFR level from A1 through C2, so the vocabulary you meet matches where you actually are rather than where a random word list assumed you would be.