Levels Explained

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages abbreviated in English as CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries.


A1 - Beginner

At the completion of level A1, you will be able to:

  • Talk about your daily routine and your family in detail
  • Ask everyday questions (pourquoi, quand, qui etc.).
  • Order in a restaurant and shop in stores
  • Give date and time and understand a schedule
  • Use negation ne ... pas
  • Use the recent past and the close future
  • Conjugate irregular verbs: avoir, être, aller, prendre, faire.




A2 - Elementary

At the completion of level A2, you will be able to:

  • Organize a trip abroad and deal with administrative procedures
  • Express a view point and defend it
  • Talk about your professional experience
  • Use the imparfait and passé composé to talk about past events
  • Use the future tense and the imperative
  • Refine the use of pronouns: relatives, possessives, comparatives  and demonstratives 

B1 - Intermediate

At the completion of level B1, you will be able to:

  • Understand the main points of conversation regularly encountered in work and leisure
  • Describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and give explanations for opinions 
  • Understand newspaper headlines and the press, relate an event in a narrative style
  • Participate in a debate by jumping in and responding.
  • Use the conditional tense, and present participle
  • Start using the subjunctive tense

B2 - Independent

At the completion of level B2, you will be able to:

  • Understand complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in your field of specialization
  • Interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers possible without strain for either party.
  • Produce clear, detailed opinions on a wide range of subjects
  • Use the passive voice, and more complex structures

C1 - Proficient

At the completion of level C1, you will be able to:

  • Understand a wide range of demanding, longer clauses, and recognize implicit meaning
  • Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much searching for expressions.
  • Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes
  • Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.

C2 - Advanced

At level C2, you will be able to:

  • Understand with ease virtually everything heard or read.
  • Summarize information from different spoken and written sources
  • Reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation
  • Express yourself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations. 

Become a member

Become a member of Alliance Française for exclusive offers, member events, discounts and more.

Become a Member
Become a Member