DELF and DALF: How to Prepare, A2 to B2

In short: DELF and DALF test listening, reading, writing and speaking, with the same weight for each. Read French on everyday and social topics, review words every day, listen every day, and practise writing and speaking with the real task types. Use the official sample papers to learn the format.

What the exam tests

DELF and DALF are the official French diplomas awarded by the French Ministry of Education. DELF covers A1, A2, B1 and B2. DALF covers C1 and C2. There are also versions for children, teenagers and work. For federal Canadian immigration, DELF is not accepted: you need TEF Canada or TCF Canada. Quebec has its own list, which includes DELF and DALF. Check the programme you apply to. For French residence or nationality, DELF is usually accepted, as are some versions of the TCF and TEF, but the level required depends on your case and the rules change, so check which test and level you need first.

From A1 to C1, each exam has four parts:

• Compréhension de l'oral (listening)
• Compréhension des écrits (reading)
• Production écrite (writing)
• Production orale (speaking, with an examiner)

Each part counts for 25 points, 100 in total. You need 50 points overall and at least 5 points in each part. (DALF C2 is organised differently, with two parts.) The diploma does not expire. Rules can change, so always check the current format on the official site of France Éducation international. It has free sample papers. Use them.

DALF (C1, C2) is a bigger step. The texts and recordings are long, and you must build an argument from several documents. If you aim for DALF, first make B2 feel easy.

How many words?

There is no official DELF word list, and sources count words in different ways. Teachers often quote rough figures for European languages: about 2,000–3,000 common words for B1 and about 3,000–4,000 for B2. Treat these as a rough guide only.

Estimate Your Vocabulary (Settings → Languages) gives you a word count, not a level. It is a rough check, and it depends on where you stop scrolling. When it opens at first run, scroll to the point where the common words stop looking familiar, tap OK, and stop a little early rather than late: words marked as known get no translation.

What to read at each level

• A2: graded readers (easy books written for learners) for A2, for example found by searching for lectures faciles (buy or borrow them as EPUB or PDF and open them with Open a file), short emails, adverts, simple instructions. That is what A2 reading looks like. Just starting? See Start a New Language From Zero.
• B1: graded readers at B1, news for learners, blogs about daily life and travel. Add news sites that have a news feed (RSS) in Feeds → Add Feed → Add URL..., or share a web page to pimReader from your browser.
• B2: real news and opinion articles on social topics: work, education, the environment, health, technology, the media. B2 writing asks for your opinion with arguments, so read texts where people argue for and against something.

For fun, look in the library under ＋ → Free books for French classics and fairy tales. They are old, so they are not exam models. For easy reading there, look for fairy tales and children's stories (for French, for example, Perrault's fairy tales); the catalogues differ by language, so the choice is bigger in some languages than others.

How many coloured words you see depends on the book. A graded reader or a modern text may have a few per paragraph; classics often have many more. If almost every line is full of colour, choose something easier.

A weekly plan (30–45 minutes a day)

Only 15 minutes a day? Do the reviews and the reading every day, and speak once a week.

Every day

1. 5 minutes: daily reviews: tap the Exercise card on Home. Tap Again, Hard, Good or Easy. Spaced repetition brings each word back when you're likely to start forgetting it.
2. 15 minutes: read one text. Tap a coloured word, tap its translation in the dictionary panel, and tick Memorize on the word's card. Keep 5–10 useful words a day, not more. Collect linking words too: cependant, pourtant, en revanche. You need them for B2 writing.
3. 10 minutes: listen. Turn on read-aloud (in a book: ⋮ → Book ..., tick Play Audio:, choose Speech Synthesis). Listen once with the text, once without. French spelling and sound are far apart, so this matters.

Twice a week (AI): production orale. Open Ask AI → Speaking practice. Ask for the task you will meet: "Play a shop assistant, I want to return a product" (A2), or "Give me a short text on remote work, then ask me to defend my opinion" (B2). Use Train speech (select a paragraph → ⋮ → Train speech) on sentences with sounds you find hard, like nasal vowels or u.

Once a week (AI): production écrite. Write one exam task: a message at A2, a letter or forum post at B1, an argued letter or article at B2. Paste it into Ask AI with the official marking grid from the sample paper. Ask: "What would an examiner take points off for? Show a corrected version." Then write it again. This is a study aid, not an official mark.

Every two or three weeks: do one official sample paper, timed, without the app. Look at the weakest part. You need at least 5 out of 25 in each part, so a very weak part is a real risk.

Before the exam

Keep reviews going, add few new words, do timed sample papers, and learn the instructions for each task. See A 90-Day Plan for a B2 Language Exam for a longer structure.

What it won't do

• It has no official DELF or DALF papers. Use the free samples on the official site.
• It won't give you points or a grade. AI feedback is a guide, not an exam result.
• It has no exam timer. Time yourself.
• It has no exam listening audio. Read-aloud uses a computer voice, not real speakers.

Reading, translations, feeds, read-aloud with your phone's voice and daily reviews (the Exercise card on Home) are free; Speaking practice, Train speech and writing feedback use AI, which is part of pimReader Plus. When you open an AI feature, pimReader offers Try free for a month: no card, no account, nothing renews. Tap Not now to carry on without AI.