Épreuve
Production orale
Level
A2
Time
8 min
Marks
/25
The speaking exam game plan
About eight minutes with an examiner, ten minutes of preparation, 25 points. Here is the shape of the A2 oral and where every point comes from.
By the end of this lesson
- Name the three parts of the A2 oral, their length, and the one that gives you no preparation.
- Say where the 25 points come from, including the 13 that reward your French across the whole exam.
- Spend the 10 preparation minutes on keywords and ideas instead of full sentences.
- Know what A2 marking tolerates, so one small mistake doesn't stop you talking.
- Walk in with the right papers, the right greeting, and a polite way to ask for a repetition.
The oral is the shortest paper of the DELF A2, and it's the one candidates picture least clearly. You know you'll be talking to a person for a few minutes. Far fewer students can say how long they speak on their own, or who picks the topic.
This lesson gives you the whole shape of the épreuve, the exam paper for one skill. You get the three parts, their timings, the 25 points, and a plan for your ten preparation minutes. It ends with the habits that make the day itself easier.
Three parts, and each one is longer
Production orale is the speaking paper, and you take it alone with one examiner. The conversation runs about eight minutes in total. Before it, you get 10 minutes on your own to get ready. The paper is worth 25 points, like each of the other three.
Those eight minutes come in three parts. Each one asks something different from you.
- L'entretien dirigé, the guided interview, about 1 minute 30. You greet the examiner, then you talk about yourself: your name, your job, your family, what you enjoy. The examiner then asks you a few simple questions. There's no card to draw and no preparation here, because the topic is your own life.
- Le monologue suivi, the sustained monologue, about 2 minutes. You draw two topic cards and keep one of them. Then you speak on your own, and the examiner stays quiet until you've finished.
- L'exercice en interaction, the role-play, about 4 minutes. Again you're offered two situations and you keep one. You then act out an everyday scene with the examiner: buying something, booking a room, asking for information.
| The part | How long | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Entretien dirigé, no preparation | about 1 min 30 | 4 |
| Monologue suivi, one topic out of two | about 2 min | 4 |
| Exercice en interaction, one situation out of two | about 4 min | 4 |
| Your French, across all three parts | the whole exam | 13 |
| Total | about 8 min | 25 |
Read the last two rows again, because they change the way you prepare. Twelve points pay for what you manage to say, 4 per part, whatever the length of that part. Thirteen points pay for how you say it, and they're collected across the whole eight minutes. More than half the paper marks your French.
Sujet type · monologue suiviA2 · l'un des deux sujets tirés
Un déjeuner en famille. Quand est-ce que votre famille se retrouve pour un repas ? Qui vient ? Qu'est-ce que vous mangez ensemble ? Racontez un déjeuner que vous avez aimé et dites pourquoi.
ENA family lunch. When does your family get together for a meal? Who comes? What do you eat together? Tell us about a lunch you enjoyed, and say why.
A card like that one is short on purpose. The questions on it are there to start you off, and answering them one by one won't fill two minutes. The third lesson of this group shows you how to build them into a real presentation.
Point d'étape 1/4
0 / 3
Q1Which part of the A2 oral gives you no preparation and no choice of topic?
Q2How long is the whole A2 oral, and how much preparation comes before it?
Q3In which parts are you offered two topics and asked to keep one?
The ten minutes that set up two parts
Your preparation happens before you meet the examiner, and it covers parts 2 and 3 only. Part 1 gets none, and it needs none, since you already know your own life by heart. Ten minutes for two parts is short, so decide in advance how you'll spend them.
- Choose in one minute. You're offered two topics for part 2 and two situations for part 3. Take the one you have the most words for, not the one that sounds more interesting. Lexique is the single heaviest criterion on the grid, so a topic you can't name things in costs you twice.
- Prepare one topic per part. The card you set aside won't come back. Spreading ten minutes over four topics leaves you with four sets of thin notes and nothing solid to say.
- Write words, not sentences. You can't write two minutes of speech in five minutes, and you can't glance at a paragraph. Read your notes out loud and two things go wrong: your eyes leave the examiner and your voice goes flat.
- Plan your linking words. For the monologue, note the order of your ideas and the words that join them: d'abord, ensuite, et aussi, parce que, enfin. Clear links lift your task mark, so those small words are worth real points.
- For the role-play, a list and not a script. Write down what you have to ask and what you have to say. A written dialogue is useless, because the examiner's answers aren't in your notes.
Here's a split that works: one minute to choose, five minutes on the monologue, four on the role-play. The monologue takes the bigger share, because you're building two minutes of speech with nobody to help you.
Modèle · notes de préparation
quartier calme / marché le dimanche / voisins sympas / métro à cinq minutes
Des mots clés. Four short groups, and each one turns into a full sentence when you speak. You can find your place in them at a glance, which is exactly what notes are for.
Mon quartier est très calme et j'aime beaucoup y habiter parce qu'il y a un marché le dimanche.
Une phrase complète. This line takes nearly a minute to write and buys you six seconds of speech. Read out loud, it also sounds read out loud, and pronunciation carries points.
d'abord / ensuite / et aussi / parce que / enfin
Les mots de liaison. Five connectors chosen before you start talking. Linking your ideas is scored inside the monologue, so this line is one of the cheapest ways to gain points.
demander : le prix, les horaires, les documents / dire : bonjour, merci, au revoir
La liste du jeu de rôle. For part 3 you list what you must ask and what you must say. A script would break at the examiner's first answer, but a list survives any turn the talk takes.
Point d'étape 2/4
0 / 3
Q1Why shouldn't you write full sentences during the ten preparation minutes?
Q2You have two topic cards in front of you. Which one do you keep?
Q3Why do you prepare only one topic for part 2 and one situation for part 3?
Where the 25 points come from
Twelve of the points are attached to the three parts, 4 each. Every part carries one criterion, réalisation de la tâche, and the examiner picks one of four levels: 0, 1, 2.5 or 4. A solid performance at your level lands on 2.5, and the top level rewards polish above A2.
In the entretien dirigé, they check whether you can make social contact and describe your familiar world. They also watch how easily you answer, or whether every reply has to be pulled out of you.
In the monologue suivi, they check whether you present an event, an activity or a place simply and clearly. How you connect your information belongs to that same judgement, which is why the connectors from your notes matter.
In the exercice en interaction, they check whether you ask for and give information. They also look at whether you make, accept or refuse a proposal, with the right politeness for the person in front of you. It's the longest part of the three, and it's worth the same 4 points.
The last 13 points are linguistic, and they cover all three parts at once. Lexique is your vocabulary, worth 5, and it's the heaviest line of the whole grid. Morphosyntaxe is your grammar, worth 4: verb forms, tenses, articles, and the way you build a sentence. Phonologie is your pronunciation, worth 4: sounds clear enough to follow, and a rhythm that gets close to French.
Now the part nobody tells candidates. The A2 grammar criterion is written to accept elementary mistakes, as long as your meaning still comes through. The pronunciation criterion accepts that your listener may occasionally ask you to repeat. So a wrong verb ending is never a reason to stop, apologise and start the sentence again.
Two more numbers decide your diploma. You need 50 out of 100 across the four papers to pass. And under 5 out of 25 in any single paper ends it, however good the other three were.
Point d'étape 3/4
0 / 3
Q1The 13 linguistic points of the oral cover which three things?
Q2Does A2 marking require grammar with no mistakes in it?
Q3Which of the three parts of the oral carries the most task points?
The day itself
Bring your convocation, the letter that gives your date and time slot, and an identity document. Both are checked before you start. The only notes you may use are the ones you write during your ten minutes.
Greet the examiner when you come in, and thank them when you leave. That isn't only good manners, because part 1 marks your ability to make social contact. Your mark starts at bonjour. Use vous with the examiner from your first word to your last, whatever their age.
When you're handed your topic cards, read them before the preparation time starts. If one word blocks you, ask the examiner what it means. Asking is allowed, and ten minutes is far too short to spend guessing what your topic is.
You'll miss a question somewhere in the role-play, and that's expected at this level. Ask for it again in French rather than answering something nobody asked. And if you dry up in part 1, the examiner will put a question to you. A short silence isn't a failure.
One last habit for the nervous minutes. Slow down instead of speeding up, because clear sounds earn points and speed earns none.
Modèle · les phrases du jour J
Bonjour madame. Je m'appelle Ana Ruiz et je vais me présenter.
L'entrée. You speak first in part 1, so arrive with this line ready. Knowing your opening by heart removes the hardest moment of the whole exam.
Excusez-moi, qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, ce mot ?
Avant la préparation. Ask about a word on your card before the ten minutes start. The examiner explains it, and your preparation time stays where it belongs, on your ideas.
Pardon, vous pouvez répéter la question, s'il vous plaît ?
Une question manquée. This costs three seconds and it's correct French. A2 marking expects a listener to need the occasional repeat, so nothing here is held against you.
Merci beaucoup madame. Au revoir et bonne journée.
La sortie. The exam isn't over until you're out of the room. Closing politely belongs to the social contact that part 1 measures.
Point d'étape 4/4
0 / 3
Q1What do you have to bring with you on exam day?
Q2A word on your topic card stops you. When is the moment to ask about it?
Q3You did not catch a question during the role-play. What do you do?
Key takeaways
- Three parts: entretien dirigé about 1 min 30, monologue suivi about 2 min, interaction about 4 min.
- Points: 4 for each of the three parts, plus 13 for your French across all three.
- The 10 preparation minutes cover parts 2 and 3 only. Part 1 has no prep and no topic choice.
- Prepare one topic per part, in keywords. A written sentence eats your time and sounds read out.
- A2 accepts elementary mistakes and the odd request to repeat, as long as your meaning stays clear.