DELF Exam: Levels, Format, Scoring, Fees and Dates in India

The DELF exam (Diplôme d'études en langue française, the diploma in French language studies) is the French government's official diploma in French as a foreign language, with one separate exam for each level from A1 to B2. France Éducation international (FEI) issues the DELF on behalf of the French Ministry of National Education. The diploma is valid for life and is recognised worldwide. The key facts are in the table below.

01What is the DELF exam?

The DELF is a set of four independent diplomas, one for each Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level from A1 to B2. Each level is a separate diploma, so you can sit one level on its own. The DALF covers the two levels above the DELF, C1 and C2.

The DELF exam is taken on paper, in person, at an exam centre. Every DELF level has three group sections and one individual Speaking test in front of two examiners. In India, the Alliance Française centres, the network of French language and cultural centres, run the exam.

DELF versions: Prim, Junior, Tout Public and Pro

The DELF has four versions that all lead to the same diploma: Prim for children, Junior for teenagers, Tout Public (general public) for adults, and Pro for professional use. In India, the Institut français en Inde (French Institute in India) runs Junior sessions in July and December. This guide covers DELF Tout Public, the version for adults.

02DELF levels: A1, A2, B1 and B2

The DELF has four independent levels, A1, A2, B1 and B2, which match the first four of the CEFR's six levels. The CEFR groups its six levels into three bands: basic user (A1–A2), independent user (B1–B2) and proficient user (C1–C2). The table below shows the band and the abilities that each DELF level certifies.

The DALF covers the proficient-user levels, C1 and C2.

03DELF exam format: the four sections at each level

The DELF exam tests four skills at every level, in four sections marked out of 25 each. The four sections are compréhension de l'oral (Listening), compréhension des écrits (Reading), production écrite (Writing) and production orale (Speaking).

Candidates sit the Listening, Reading and Writing sections together as a group. Candidates take the Speaking test individually, in front of two examiners. According to France Éducation international, the sections at each level run as the table below shows.

The B2 Speaking test comes with 30 minutes of preparation, three times the 10 minutes at A1, A2 and B1.

04How the DELF exam is evaluated

The DELF exam is scored out of 100, split equally across four sections of 25 marks each. To pass any DELF level, you need 50 out of 100 overall and at least 5 out of 25 in every section.

The 5-out-of-25 minimum applies to each section separately. A score below 5 in any one section disqualifies the student from getting the diploma, regardless of their total score. Consider the case of a student whose four section scores are 22, 22, 22 and 4. The total score, here, is 70 out of 100, which is well above the pass mark of 50, but the student still doesn’t qualify, because one section’s score is below 5 out of 25. The three possible outcomes are shown in the table below.

05DELF exam fees in India (2026)

The DELF exam fees in India for 2026 range from ₹7,286 to ₹8,756 for Alliance Française students and ₹11,210 to ₹13,265 for external candidates, GST (goods and services tax) included. According to Institut français en Inde, each level has an internal and an external fee. The 2026 fee for each level is in the table below.

Candidates who aren't students of an Alliance Française must pay the external fee. These fees are the same at every Alliance Française in India, whereas the Alliances abroad set their own fees. Please confirm the current fee with your exam centre.

06DELF exam dates 2026 in India

The 2026 DELF calendar in India has five sessions, set nationally by Institut français en Inde. The March session offers only B1 and B2, with no A1 or A2. The registration windows below come from the Institut français en Inde national calendar, where TP stands for Tout Public.

Each centre sets its own dates inside this national calendar. For example, Alliance Française de Bombay lists four sessions, in March, June, September and December, and no July session. Junior candidates can only appear for the July and December sessions. Kindly confirm the exact dates with your respective centres.

07DELF exam centres, registration and eligibility in India

The Alliance Française centres conduct the DELF exams in India, and anyone can register for any DELF level, with no prerequisite. You cannot appear for more than one DELF level in the same session. The current list of exam centres is on the Institut français en Inde website. A registration cannot be changed or cancelled once it is made. French Kaliké prepares candidates for the DELF, and registration is done by the student at the exam centre.

Registering for the DELF takes three steps.

1. Find your Alliance Française centre on the Institut français en Inde list.
2. Register with your chosen centre within its registration window.
3. Bring a photo ID and your admit card on exam day.

Phones and smartwatches are not allowed inside the examination hall.

08How to prepare for the DELF exam, section by section

I prepare my students for the DELF by offering them section-specific practice. These exercises for Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking, coupled with individual feedback, help students ace these sections in the DELF exams. My method rests on continuous evaluation. Students get Listening, Reading and Writing tasks every week, and they speak in every class. I provide all the material, along with a short recording of the class the following day.

The table below shows how I practise each section, including timed productions écrites (PE, the Writing task).

Writing shows me how a student thinks. I specifically look for English words that students assume exist in French: for instance, a student who hasn’t come across the word ‘abordable (affordable)’ might think that ‘affordable’ exists in French. This is a problem that needs to be worked on at B1. Other checks are noun genders, agreement slips in long coordinated sentences, and which verb + que constructions take the subjonctif (subjunctive). B1 and B2 classes last three hours, partly because the whole class discusses everyone's PE. If you already speak some French, do you think the expression se ruiner la santé (to ruin one’s health) can be extended to se ruiner la santé mentale (to ruin one’s mental health)? We once spent around 20 minutes discussing this in one of my B1 classes. Examiners can spot a memorised letter opening, which is why these discussions are important, so that students can write using naturally coherent sentences.

Nerves make students rush when they speak. Often, my most useful feedback is asking them to pause for a second or two before answering a question. Prosody matters too. A student of mine, who was preparing for the Test d'évaluation de français (TEF), had the habit of speaking using ‘uptalk’ (more specifically, a ‘high-rising terminal’ intonation, linguistically speaking), which is a very specific rising tone used by English speakers in certain parts of the world. He was applying this intonation to questions, which was making the questions sound a bit ambiguous. I advised him to give his questions a rising tone, and not the ‘uptalk’ tone, to avoid any ambiguity on the examiner’s part.

I usually ask students to review les mots connecteurs (connecting words) before the Speaking test, since they can buy you time while you develop a point. France Éducation international publishes sample papers for each level. Practise them in an exam setting.

French sounds for speakers of Indian languages

French pronunciation for speakers of Indian languages involves sounds that most Indian languages lack, including most French vowels. I teach each French sound by contrasting it with your mother tongue. At French Kaliké, the Advanced Pronunciation and Speaking course opens only after B1.2. For instance, here are two sounds that your language might lack:

• The French /ɥ/, a “voiced labial–palatal approximant” as in huit (‘eight’), is absent from all twenty-two scheduled Indian languages.
• The French /ʁ/, a “voiced uvular fricative” as in rouge (‘red’), is absent from all scheduled Indian languages.

Four habits cost marks in the exam.

• Speaking: reading /œ/ (open-mid front rounded vowel) as /e/ after a consonant, as in proche (‘close’) or ne in negative sentences. It is most common at A1, and most students outgrow it by the end of A1. It becomes a real problem if it lasts into A2 or B1.
• Speaking: reading the letter a as /eɪ/ or /ə/ at the start of a word or after a consonant, as in pratique (‘practice’) or avis (‘opinion’). This habit comes from English; French /a/ needs a much more open mouth.
• Listening: hearing an elided de or le as part of the next word, so d'Inde in Je viens d'Inde (‘I come from India’) sounds like dinde (‘turkey’). The fix is vocabulary: knowing that venir (to come) takes de and that Inde elides.
• Listening: missing numbers said fast, such as phone and street numbers, which costs marks at every level.

Where candidates lose marks: the 5-out-of-25 rule

Candidates fail the DELF under the 5-out-of-25 rule when they score below 5 out of 25 in any one section, even with 50 or more in total. The Writing section sets a minimum length at each level. A1 asks for a form and a 40-word message, and A2 for two 60-word texts. B1 asks for 160 words, and B2 for 250.

There is no single section where my students score the lowest. It depends on each student's strengths and weaknesses. Continuous evaluation shows me which section each student needs to work on, which is why I prepare them for the exam section by section.

How long DELF preparation takes

Preparing for the DELF from zero takes at least a year for B1 and a year and a half for B2 with me. Each level or part runs for three months. A1 and A2 classes last two hours with a ten-minute break; from B1.1, classes last three hours with a fifteen-minute break. DELF B1 covers B1.1 and B1.2, and DELF B2 covers B2.1 and B2.2. Minimum times are in the table below.

I say "at least" because a new B1 batch doesn't always start right after A2, so some students wait for a month or two. This timeline only highlights the course duration and does not guarantee a pass.

Preparing for the DELF with French Kaliké

You can prepare for the DELF with me in live group classes on Google Meet. The batch sizes are usually small, and I don’t conduct one-to-one classes. My DELF batches train students for the exam's four sections, from A1 to B2. The "Watch free demo" button plays a recording of a real class, and gives you an idea of how classes usually go. Success depends most on attending class regularly, doing your homework and working on the feedback that I give you. I don't guarantee any results. The courses are below.

• French A1 course
• French A2 course
• DELF B1 preparation course
• DELF B2 preparation course

09DELF exam syllabus by level

The DELF covers four levels that test the same four skills, and France Éducation International describes those skills rather than publishing a grammar syllabus. The table below shows the grammar I teach at each level, next to the Writing task in the exam.

Each of my course pages lists the full syllabus for every part. Start with the French A1 course page for the first level.

10Which DELF level do you need?

The DELF level you need depends on your goal: B2 for a French university or French citizenship, A2 or B1 for a French residence card. The table below matches each goal to its level.

Many French universities ask for B2, and the DELF B2 is an accepted proof for the same. Requirements vary based on the university.

DELF levels for France: residence cards and citizenship (2026 rules)

France requires A2 for a first carte de séjour pluriannuelle (multi-year residence card) and B1 for a first carte de résident (resident card). These rules have applied to non-EU nationals since 1 January 2026, according to service-public.gouv.fr. The three levels are below.

• First multi-year residence card: A2
• First resident card: B1
• Naturalisation: B2, oral and written

The residence-card rule does not cover every card type. Proof is a diploma or a language certification, and a civic exam is required too. The naturalisation level appears on a separate service-public.gouv.fr page. For the resident-card level, I teach B1 in my DELF B1 preparation course.

Can you skip levels and take DELF B2 directly?

Yes, you can take DELF B2 directly, because the DELF has no prerequisite. I conduct a placement test for students who want to join my DELF B2 preparation course but don’t have a DELF B1 certificate. I do this because in my experience, most learners tend to overestimate their current level. A placement test helps me accurately evaluate a person’s current level.

For students who have completed their A1 through B1 levels with me, I already know their strengths and weaknesses well enough to say whether they can join B2. Most of them do. However, I ask some of them to revisit B1 material first - I do this when I feel that the B2 curriculum and class work might overwhelm them.

11Is the DELF accepted for Canada PR?

No, the DELF is not accepted as a French test for Canada's Express Entry. For Express Entry, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) accepts two French tests. The two tests are TEF Canada and Test de connaissance du français (TCF, French for "test of knowledge of French") Canada. The DELF is not on the IRCC list of approved language tests.

TEF Canada and TCF Canada results are valid for two years, while the DELF is valid for life. French Kaliké runs two pistes (tracks) for these goals: Érable for Canada (TEF and TCF) and Lys for France (DELF). Canada-bound learners can start with the TEF and TCF Canada B1 course.

12DELF vs DALF: what is the difference?

The DELF and the DALF are both issued by France Éducation international, but they cover different levels. The DELF covers A1 to B2, and the DALF covers C1 and C2. The table below compares the two diplomas.

DALF C1 has four sections marked out of 25 and the same pass rule as the DELF. A pass needs 50 out of 100, with at least 5 out of 25 in each section. Like the DELF, the DALF C1 is valid for life. In India, the March session includes DALF C1 and C2.

13DELF results and certificate

You get your DELF results and your diploma through your exam centre, which publishes the results and announces the date. Alliance Française de Delhi sets out these rules on its DELF-DALF exams page, citing FEI rules. Four points apply after the exam.

• Re-evaluation is not permitted: papers are double-marked, and results are final.
• Diplomas are collected from the centre, and Alliance Française de Delhi keeps them for two years.
• Lost diplomas are replaced through delfdalf@france-education-international.fr.
• The diploma is valid for life.
• When the results arrive differs for each Alliance Française centre. French Kaliké students usually get their results fifteen-to-twenty days after the exam. The diploma arrives at least one-to-two months after that, and some centres take longer.