DELF A2 writing: two short texts of 60 words each
DELF A2 production écrite is two short texts in one sitting of forty-five minutes, each of 60 words or more. The first tells something that happened and how you felt about it. The second replies to a message. One grid of five criteria marks each text on its own. This page covers that grid, the length rule, and an annotated model message.
Updated 10 October 2026
Two exercises, forty-five minutes, 60 words each
| Task | Minimum length | Time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short written text | 60 words | 12.5 | |
| Written interaction | 60 words | 12.5 | |
| Total | 45 min | 25 |
Source · the official DELF A2 tout public format.
Tell a story, then answer a message
Exercise 1 is the écriture, a short piece of free writing. You describe an event or recount an experience, personal or professional, and you give your impressions. The A2 descriptor of réalisation de la tâche names both halves: simple sentences that tell the thing, and impressions put in simple terms. A story with no reaction in it is half an answer.
Exercise 2 is the écrit en interaction, a reply. You are given a short document: a postcard, a message, a brief email, or a faire-part, which is an announcement card. The grid calls what your reply has to do actes de parole, speech acts: inviting, thanking, apologising, proposing, asking, informing, congratulating. The rung under A2 describes a reply that leaves some out.
Both texts have a reader, and one line of the grid judges how you address that reader. Adéquation sociolinguistique asks for basic politeness formulas and a register that broadly suits the person. Above the A2 line, each descriptor asks a little more: details and examples in the story, added precision in the reply. The rung labelled A2 is not the top of the grid.
One grid, used twice: five criteria of two and a half points
| Criterion | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Réalisation de la tâcheTask fulfilment | 2.5 |
| Cohérence et cohésionCoherence and cohesion | 2.5 |
| Adéquation sociolinguistiqueSociolinguistic appropriateness | 2.5 |
| Lexique (y compris orthographe lexicale)Vocabulary (including lexical spelling) | 2.5 |
| MorphosyntaxeMorphosyntax (grammar) | 2.5 |
| Total | 12.5 |
This grid is filled in once for each of the 2 exercises: 12.5 points each, 25 for the paper.
Every criterion is scored from 0 to 2.5, in steps of 0.5.
The official tick values are 0, 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5. The values in between are our own interpolations, not official rungs.
Under half the required length, at 29 words or fewer, every criterion scores 0.
Source · the current harmonised DELF A2 marking grid.
What the grid forgives at A2, and what it does not
Length is the one rule here that ignores quality. At twenty-nine words or fewer, under half the length asked for, the official grid treats an exercise as too thin to mark. Each of its five lines scores zero, good sentences included. The rule works exercise by exercise, and the other text is marked normally. So one empty exercise costs half the paper, not the paper. The other half can still clear the 5/25 floor.
A text of thirty to fifty-nine words is a different case. It is marked, and in the way we apply the grid only réalisation de la tâche pays for the missing length. Our grader reads the four other criteria on the sentences you did write.
The grid itself is tolerant about form. Spelling sits inside lexique, and the A2 descriptor accepts words from outside the elementary repertoire written the way they sound. The A2 line of morphosyntaxe says elementary errors may remain. What the grid does not forgive is a text beside the task. An answer on a different theme cannot be placed on the A2+ rung for réalisation de la tâche or for lexique. An answer in the wrong kind of text cannot reach the A2 rung on réalisation de la tâche or on cohérence et cohésion.
A model message about a cooking workshop, annotated
The instruction line
Vous avez participé à un atelier de cuisine avec des amis. Vous écrivez un message à votre amie française Léa : vous racontez ce que vous avez fait et vous donnez vos impressions. (60 mots minimum)
Model answer
Salut Léa !
opening formula suited to a friend
Samedi dernier, j’ai participé à un atelier de cuisine avec deux amis du travail. Nous avons appris à préparer une tarte aux pommes et une soupe de légumes de saison.
narration in the passé composé: what, when, with whom
C’était une journée super ! J’étais un peu fatiguée le soir, mais très contente, parce que la tarte que j’ai faite était vraiment délicieuse. Je pense que je vais retourner à l’atelier le mois prochain.
impressions and feelings, required by the task
Et toi, tu veux venir avec nous ? Réponds-moi vite ! Bises, Ana
question to the friend + friendly closing formula
Marks awarded
- Task fulfilment2.5 / 2.5
- Coherence and cohesion2.5 / 2.5
- Sociolinguistic appropriateness2.5 / 2.5
- Vocabulary (including lexical spelling)2 / 2.5
- Morphosyntax (grammar)2.5 / 2.5
- Total12 / 12.5
Those marks come from our own AI grader, recorded when the model answer was written. They are not an examiner result.
Task and model answer from our A2 sample paper. Both were written for this site.
The task is an exercise 1, an écriture: say what you did and give your impressions. The page prints four of the model’s five paragraphs. The greeting is one a friend would use. The second paragraph carries the story in the passé composé: when, what and with whom. The impressions follow in the imparfait, and parce que brings the reason. The message closes on a question to Léa and a friendly sign-off.
The total shown is not an examiner’s mark. Our AI grader recorded it, keeping half a point back on lexique. No reason was stored with the marks, so read nothing precise into that half point. Exercise 2, the reply, is not shown here, and our sample paper has none. The full sample paper and its answer key give the missing paragraph, where three linking words put the story in order.
Writing two texts inside forty-five minutes
Forty-five minutes cover both texts, and nobody tells you when to change exercise. The usual accident is the story eating the time of the reply. The two are worth the same, so practise them as a pair, with one timer for both. The split suggested in this section is our arithmetic.
Work in the same order every time: read each instruction line for its reader and its jobs, write, then count. Write the two A2 texts against the clock. The feedback comes from an AI grader that applies the official grid. Its score is an estimate, never an examiner’s mark.
- 1Read both instruction lines before you write, so the first text does not run long.
- 2For exercise 1, note what happened, when and with whom, then one feeling and the reason for it.
- 3For exercise 2, list the speech acts the document calls for, and give each one a sentence to itself.
- 4Join your sentences with a handful of plain connectors. The A2 descriptor asks for elementary ones, or a clear order in time.
- 5Count the words of each text, then reread the verb endings. When both fit inside the time, start a full A2 mock.
Official timing
- PE-Ex1 · Short written text12.5 points
- PE-Ex2 · Written interaction12.5 points
- Total45 min
Source · the official DELF A2 tout public format.
A workable split
- PE-Ex120 min
- PE-Ex220 min
- Checking your answers5 min
A workable split. This is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
The free lesson on reading an A2 prompt
Free lesson · study guide
Decode the prompt before you write
Three minutes on the prompt protect the other forty-two. Here's the shape of the A2 writing paper and the seven things every prompt has decided.
Production écrite A2: your questions
How many words do the two A2 texts need?+
Each instruction line asks for 60 words at least, in both exercises. Write a few words over, because a miscount is easy. Past the minimum, no criterion pays for length: one more sentence helps only when it adds a detail or a reason.
How are the two exercises marked?+
On one grid, filled in twice. Its five criteria carry the same weight, so each text is worth twelve and a half and the paper 25 points. Only réalisation de la tâche reads differently: a story with impressions in exercise 1, the required speech acts in exercise 2.
What happens if one of my texts is too short?+
It depends how short. At twenty-nine words or fewer, every criterion of that exercise scores zero, and the other exercise is marked as usual. Above that and under 60 words, our grader takes the missing length off réalisation de la tâche only.
Which tenses does A2 writing need?+
The grid lists no tense. Our grader treats a past tense that carries a clear story as the sign of the level, and does not expect the subjunctive or the conditional. B1 writing asks for more: one longer text that argues an opinion.
Does spelling count at A2?+
It has no line to itself. Lexical spelling belongs to lexique, and the A2 descriptor expects correct spelling on elementary words only. Our grader does not count mistakes at this level: it lowers a mark only when an error blocks understanding.
Keep reading
The other A2 pages
Ready to find your A2 level?
Take a full mock or practice one section at a time. See your predicted score before exam day.