DELF A1 speaking: an interview, questions to ask and a role play
The DELF A1 oral lasts seven minutes at most and has three parts. First you answer the examiner’s questions about yourself. Then you ask questions of your own, starting from the words proposed to you. Last, you play a short everyday scene, such as buying something. Ten minutes of preparation come before the oral, and they serve the second and third parts only. Your French is marked once, across all three parts.
Updated 10 October 2026
Ten minutes of preparation, then a few minutes of oral
| Part | Time | Trigger document | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preparation, for parts 2 and 3 only | 10 min | ||
| Guided interview | about 1 min | None | 4 |
| Exchange of information | about 2 min | None | 4 |
| Simulated dialogue, a role play | about 2 min | None | 4 |
| Language, across the 3 parts | 13 | ||
| Total | 7 min | 25 |
Source · the official DELF A1 tout public format.
Answer, ask, then buy something: the three tasks
The oral opens with the entretien dirigé, a guided interview of about a minute. The examiner asks simple questions about you: your name, your age, your family, your nationality, your daily life. The top box of the grid describes a candidate who adds details and examples without being asked. The box below the level describes isolated words, and questions the examiner has to repeat.
Then comes the échange d’informations, an exchange of information, and the roles swap. You are given cards with one word on each, and you question the examiner from those words. The skill is forming a question, not answering one. The grid looks at two things: whether each question fits its word, and whether your questions change from one card to the next.
Last comes the dialogue simulé, a role play of about two minutes. A card sets the scene: where you are and what you need. You play someone who buys something or asks for a service, and the examiner plays the other role. In our practice subjects you ask for an item, ask the price and pay. A greeting, « s’il vous plaît », « merci » and a goodbye belong to the task: the descriptor for this part names basic social contact and elementary polite formulas.
Four points a task, thirteen for the language
Six lines make up the grid. Half of them belong to the tasks, one for each part, with equal weight. The interview is over in about a minute, yet it counts as much as the role play. On each task line the official grid offers four boxes: nothing, below the level, A1 and A1+. The A1 box is worth two and a half, not four. Full marks on a task belong to the A1+ descriptor.
The remaining three lines are about your French, judged over the whole oral: lexique (vocabulary), morphosyntaxe (grammar) and maîtrise du système phonologique (pronunciation). Together they hold more than half of the paper, and vocabulary outweighs every other line. Each asks for little. For vocabulary, a limited stock of elementary words and expressions that is enough for the tasks. For grammar, simple structures under limited control. For pronunciation, a small set of words said correctly, even if the examiner has you repeat a few.
Mistakes are not tallied by our grader. That is our way of applying the grid, not a rule printed on it. An article in the wrong gender, a verb ending that slips or a missing elision costs nothing while the message gets through. Marks are lost only where an error stops the listener understanding. One limit to know: our grader works from a transcript of your recording, so its pronunciation mark is an indirect estimate.
| Criterion | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Réalisation de la tâche 1 : entretien dirigé (1 minute environ)Task 1: guided interview | 4 |
| Réalisation de la tâche 2 : échange d’informations (2 minutes environ)Task 2: exchange of information | 4 |
| Réalisation de la tâche 3 : dialogue simulé (2 minutes environ)Task 3: simulated dialogue | 4 |
| Lexique (pour les trois parties de l’épreuve)Vocabulary | 5 |
| Morphosyntaxe (pour les trois parties de l’épreuve)Morphosyntax (grammar) | 4 |
| Maîtrise du système phonologique (pour les trois parties de l’épreuve)Phonological control | 4 |
| Total | 25 |
Source · the current harmonised DELF A1 marking grid.
Six word cards and the questions they can become
The subject card
À partir de ces six mots, posez des questions à l’examinateur pour mieux le connaître : PRÉNOM · FRÈRES ET SŒURS · APPARTEMENT · PROFESSION · VÉLO · CAFÉ. Par exemple : « Vous avez des frères et sœurs ? »
Practice subject from our own bank, written for this site. It is not an official exam subject.
The card gives six words and one model question. Each word is a starting point: you owe the examiner one question about it, not a sentence that contains it. The top descriptor of the grid asks for « questions simples et variées en rapport avec les mots proposés », questions that also help the exchange continue. If all six questions open with « Vous avez », you land in a lower box, where the questions are little varied whatever the word.
Here is one way through this card, with a new question word each time. Start with « Quel est votre prénom ? », then count: « Vous avez combien de frères et sœurs ? ». Move to a place and a job with « Où se trouve votre appartement ? » and « Qu’est-ce que vous faites comme profession ? ». Close on a yes or no question, « Vous allez au travail à vélo ? », and on a time, « Quand buvez-vous un café ? ». Six different openings, all in the present tense. Open questions, with « où » or « quand », give the examiner something to say, which keeps the exchange moving.
Using the preparation time for parts 2 and 3
Official timing
- Preparation, for parts 2 and 3 only10 min
- Guided interview4 points
- Exchange of information4 points
- Simulated dialogue, a role play4 points
- Language, across the 3 parts13 points
Source · the official DELF A1 tout public format.
A workable split
- Exchange of information5 min
- Simulated dialogue, a role play5 min
A workable split. This is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
Saying it out loud before the day
None of the three tasks can be learned by reading. Each has to come out of your mouth before the day. The interview gets no preparation in the exam, so it is the one to make automatic at home.
In a full A1 mock the oral is spoken. An examiner voice asks the questions and plays the other role, and you answer aloud into your microphone. Mock exams are paid, and the free demo does not include the spoken oral. The score that comes back is an estimate from an AI grader.
- 1List what an examiner can ask a beginner: name, age, family, home, work, tastes. For each, say one full sentence aloud, then a second that adds a detail.
- 2Write six everyday nouns on slips of paper and draw them one by one. Ask a question from each, and never open two questions the same way.
- 3Pick a shop and play the customer aloud: greet, ask for two things, ask the price, pay, thank, say goodbye. Keep to « vous » from start to finish.
- 4Learn one sentence for asking the examiner to repeat, and use it every time you rehearse.
- 5Record a timed A1 speaking exercise. As you listen back, go down the six lines of the grid one at a time. The line that stops you longest is your priority.
The free lesson: the speaking test, one step at a time
Free lesson · study guide
The speaking test, step by step
Ten minutes of preparation, then five to seven minutes with one examiner. Here is what happens in each of the three parts, and what it pays.
First oral exam: the questions that come up
How long is the DELF A1 oral?+
Between five and seven minutes with the examiner, after ten minutes of preparation. Listening, reading and writing are sat separately, in one collective session. The DELF A1 page sets out the whole exam.
What are the ten minutes of preparation for?+
For parts 2 and 3 only. In the same ten minutes you prepare your questions for the exchange and your lines for the role play. A workable split is half for each: one question per word, then your first and last lines of the role play. The interview is not prepared.
Can you choose your subject in the A1 oral?+
In part 2, no. The grid speaks of the words proposed to you: you ask your questions about those words, not about words you pick. In part 3 a subject gives you the situation, as in our practice subjects. So prepare question words and shop phrases that work whatever comes up.
Can you ask the examiner to repeat a question?+
Yes. Asking politely is what happens in any conversation, and « Vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ? » is itself A1 French. The grid expects repetition in both directions: even the top box for pronunciation allows for the examiner having you repeat some words.
Can an AI score replace an examiner’s mark?+
No. It is an estimate. Our grader reads your answers against the six lines of the official grid, yet nobody has compared its speaking marks with examiners’ marks on the same recordings. Treat this number with more caution than any other on the site. Use it to find your weakest line of the grid. The diploma itself comes only from sitting the exam at an approved centre.
Keep reading
The other A1 pages
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