Two of the four tasks in the DELE A2 listening paper are not multiple choice, and one of them has a third answer option that most candidates never expect.
In task 3, you attribute statements to a man, a woman, or neither of them. That third column is where the points go missing. Candidates trained to choose between two speakers will always choose one, and roughly one statement per paper belongs to neither. The oral test has surprises of its own, set out in A2 Spanish-speaking papers.
That kind of detail only appears in the official specification. Everything below follows the official A2 specifications published by Instituto Cervantes.
How is the DELE A2 comprensión auditiva structured?
The DELE A2 comprensión auditiva test lasts 40 minutes and has 4 tasks with 25 items. Two tasks use multiple-choice with three options: one asks you to attribute statements to a man, a woman, or neither, and the other asks you to match seven recorded messages to seven of ten written statements. Total audio runs 975 to 1,465 words.
| Task | Items | Audio | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarea 1 | 6 | Six informal conversations, 50 to 80 words each | Multiple choice, 3 options |
| Tarea 2 | 6 | Six short radio clips, 40 to 60 words each | Multiple choice, 3 options |
| Tarea 3 | 6 | One conversation, 225 to 275 words | Man, woman, or neither |
| Tarea 4 | 7 | Seven messages, 30 to 50 words each | Match to 7 of 10 statements |
A note on the timing, because it’s widely reported incorrectly. Plenty of sites list A2 listening as 35 minutes. The official guide says 40. If you’ve been practicing to a 35-minute clock, you’ve been training harder than you need to—no disaster, but it’s worth knowing what you’ll be given.
Every recording plays twice.
The DELE A2 listening guide covers the format; this page gives you the papers to work through.
What makes A2 listening harder than A1?
Audio at A2 is roughly twice as long; the speech is faster, and half the paper drops multiple choice in favor of matching and attribution. A2 also introduces radio material, meaning announcements and adverts rather than just conversations.
At A1, task 4 was a slow, 185-word monologue. At A2, task 3 alone runs up to 275 words, as a two-way conversation with interruptions, disagreements, and opinions.
That’s the real jump. A1 tests whether you caught a detail. A2 tests whether you followed who said what.
Sample paper 1: Tarea 1, conversaciones cotidianas
Six items, each from an informal face-to-face conversation of 50 to 80 words. Shops, restaurants, stations, airports, and free time.
Two of the six conversations
Conversación 1
HOMBRE: Buenas tardes, quería devolver esta camisa. La compré el sábado. MUJER: ¿Tiene el ticket? HOMBRE: Sí, aquí está. Es que es demasiado pequeña. ¿Tienen la talla grande? MUJER: En azul no nos queda, pero sí en blanco y en gris. HOMBRE: Pues me llevo la blanca entonces.
Conversación 2
MUJER: ¿Vamos al cine el viernes? HOMBRE: El viernes trabajo hasta las diez. ¿El sábado por la tarde? MUJER: El sábado por la tarde tengo la clase de yoga. ¿Y el domingo? HOMBRE: Vale, el domingo. Pero por la mañana, que por la tarde hay partido.
The items
1. ¿Qué hace finalmente el hombre? a) Devuelve la camisa y no compra nada b) Cambia la camisa por otra blanca c) Cambia la camisa por otra azul
2. ¿Cuándo van al cine? a) El viernes por la noche b) El sábado por la tarde c) El domingo por la mañana
Answers: 1 b, 2 c.
The answer is always in the last turn
Both conversations propose options and reject them before landing. The blue shirt is unavailable; Friday and Saturday are both ruled out, and the decision arrives in the final line.
So do not answer early. A2 conversations are built as negotiations, and the first day, color, or price mentioned is almost never the answer.
Sample paper 2: Tarea 2, cortes de radio
Six items from six short radio clips of 40 to 60 words. News headlines, adverts, event announcements. You listen for the general idea, not the fine detail.
Three of the six clips
Corte 1. El Ayuntamiento ha anunciado que la piscina municipal permanecerá cerrada durante todo el mes de agosto por obras de reforma. Reabrirá el primer fin de semana de septiembre.
Corte 2. Última semana de las rebajas en Electrodomésticos Ruiz. Hasta el domingo, descuentos de hasta el cuarenta por ciento en lavadoras y neveras. No lo deje para el último día.
Corte 3. El festival de cine de la ciudad comienza este jueves con más de sesenta películas. Las entradas cuestan seis euros, y los menores de dieciocho años entran gratis.
The items
1. ¿De qué informa el primer corte? a) De la apertura de una piscina nueva b) Del cierre temporal de una piscina c) De un cambio de precios
2. ¿Qué anuncia el segundo corte? a) El final de un periodo de descuentos b) La apertura de una tienda c) Un servicio de reparación
3. Según el tercer corte, los jóvenes… a) pagan seis euros b) no pagan entrada c) no pueden entrar
Answers: 1 b, 2 a, 3 b.
Why is this the task nobody practices
Nothing in a normal Spanish course sounds like a radio advert. The register is compressed, the sentences are long, and the useful information is buried in institutional phrasing: permanecerá cerrada, descuentos de hasta, los menores de dieciocho años.
Ten minutes a day of Spanish radio bulletins for two weeks fixes it, and there is no substitute. Coursebook audio will not prepare you for this task.
Sample paper 3: Tarea 3, hombre, mujer o ninguno
The conversation
Va a escuchar una conversación entre dos compañeros de trabajo, Ana y Pablo. Indique si los enunciados se refieren a Pablo (hombre), a Ana (mujer) o a ninguno de los dos.
MUJER: ¡Pablo! ¿Qué tal las vacaciones?
HOMBRE: Muy bien, gracias. Estuve dos semanas en Galicia con mi hermano. Llovió casi todos los días, pero me encantó.
MUJER: ¿En Galicia? Yo nunca he ido. Este año fui a Valencia, como siempre.
HOMBRE: ¿Otra vez a Valencia? ¿No te aburres?
MUJER: No, porque mis padres tienen un apartamento allí y no pago nada. Y a mis hijos les gusta mucho la playa.
HOMBRE: Claro. Nosotros hicimos senderismo casi todos los días. Yo quería descansar, pero mi hermano es muy activo.
MUJER: Yo no puedo con el senderismo. Prefiero leer en la playa.
HOMBRE: Pues yo leí un solo libro en dos semanas. No tuve tiempo.
MUJER: ¿Y comisteis bien?
HOMBRE: Muy bien. El marisco es buenísimo allí. Comimos pulpo casi todos los días.
MUJER: A mí el pulpo no me gusta nada. En Valencia comimos mucha paella.
HOMBRE: Bueno, el año que viene quiero ir a Portugal. Ya he mirado los vuelos.
MUJER: ¡Qué bien! Yo voy a volver a Valencia, seguro.
The six items
Enunciado Hombre Mujer Ninguno 1 Este año viajó al norte de España. 2 No pagó nada por el alojamiento. 3 Hizo mucho deporte durante las vacaciones. 4 Leyó varios libros en la playa. 5 No le gusta el marisco. 6 Va a cambiar de destino el año que viene.
Answers: 1 Hombre. 2 Mujer. 3 Hombre. 4 Ninguno de los dos. 5 Mujer. 6 Hombre.
Why is item 4 the one that separates candidates
Look at what the audio gives you. Pablo says leí un solo libro, one single book. Ana says prefiero leer en la playa, she prefers reading, which is a preference and not a report of what she did.
So neither of them read several books. The answer is ninguno de los dos.
Candidates get this wrong in two directions. Some hear leer from Ana and pick her. Others hear leí from Pablo and pick him. Both are pattern-matching on a verb instead of testing the whole statement.
The method that works: read each statement as a claim, then ask whether the audio supports it for either speaker. Varios libros is the operative phrase in item 4, not leer.
How to run the attribution task
Before the audio. Read all six statements. Circle the word in each one that carries the meaning: norte, no pagó nada, mucho deporte, varios, no le gusta, cambiar.
First play. Mark obvious answers only. Leave gaps. You’ll usually get three or four confidently.
Second play. Work the gaps. Listen for the negatives and the quantities, because that’s where the ninguno answers hide.
Expect one or two ninguno answers per paper. If you finish with none, check your work. If you finish with four, you’ve been overthinking it.
Sample paper 4: Tarea 4, mensajes y enunciados
The real task has seven recordings matched against ten statements, so three statements are never used. Here’s an extract of four messages with the full statement list.
When these four stop surprising you, take the reading paper under the same clock from our DELE sample paper index.
Four of the seven messages
Mensaje 1. Atención, viajeros. El tren con destino a Sevilla, previsto a las 14:20, saldrá con un retraso de cuarenta minutos por obras en la vía. Disculpen las molestias.
Mensaje 2. Hola, soy Carmen, del centro médico. Le llamo para confirmar su cita con el doctor Ramos el jueves a las once y media. Si no puede venir, llámenos antes del miércoles.
Mensaje 3. ¡Última semana de rebajas en Muebles Nogal! Hasta el domingo, cincuenta por ciento de descuento en sofás y mesas. Abrimos también el sábado por la tarde.
Mensaje 4. Estimados clientes, les recordamos que el gimnasio cerrará el lunes y el martes por reformas. Las clases de la semana que viene se trasladan al polideportivo municipal.
The ten statements
a) Aquí anuncian un cambio de lugar. b) Aquí piden que usted llame para cancelar. c) Aquí hablan de un descuento que termina pronto. d) Aquí informan de un retraso. e) Aquí ofrecen un trabajo. f) Aquí anuncian la apertura de una tienda nueva. g) Aquí piden un documento. h) Aquí avisan de un cierre temporal. i) Aquí confirman una hora y un día. j) Aquí explican cómo llegar a un sitio.
Answers for the extract: Message 1 → D. Message 2 → I (with b also true, see below). Message 3 → c. Message 4 → h and a.
The trap in this task, and how to handle it
You just saw it. Message 2 confirms a day and time, which is statement i, but it also asks you to call if you can’t come, which is statement b. Message 4 announces a temporary closure, statement h, and a change of venue, statement a.
Each message matches exactly one statement in the real paper, so when two look possible, you need the one that captures the message’s main purpose. Message 2 exists to confirm the appointment. The instruction to call is secondary.
Ask yourself: why was this recording made? That question resolves nearly every double match.
Work the task by elimination as well. Three of the ten statements are decoys, and they’re usually the most generic ones. In this list, e, f, g, and j do no work at all.
How should you use the pause between recordings?
Read ahead. The gap between one recording and the next is the only unpressured time in the paper, and it should be spent on the questions for the audio that hasn’t played yet, never on the one that just finished.
That sounds obvious, and almost nobody does it. The instinct after a recording ends is to go back and worry about the item you missed. But the audio has moved on, and so has the paper.
A simple rule keeps you ahead: when a recording finishes, mark your answers within about ten seconds, then turn your attention forward. Any item still unresolved gets a dot and waits for the second play.
Over a 40-minute paper with two plays of everything, those pauses add up to several minutes of free reading time. Candidates who use them arrive at each recording already knowing what to listen for. Candidates who don’t spend the whole paper are half a step behind.
Writing on the question paper is permitted, so use it. Circle the operative word in every statement before its audio plays.
Taking reading as well? That paper has 25 items in 60 minutes. See the DELE A2 reading sample papers.
Where A2 candidates lose listening points
- Never use the third option in task 3. One or two items belong to neither speaker.
- Matching on a single word. Leer and leí are not the same claim as varios libros.
- Not reading the statements before the audio. In tasks 3 and 4, the statements are the instructions.
- Forcing all ten statements to be used in task 4. Three are decoys.
- Losing the thread in the long conversation. Track who’s speaking, not just what’s said.
- Leaving blanks. There’s no penalty for wrong answers, so a guess is free.
- Practicing only conversations. Task 2 is radio material, and it behaves differently.
The habit that fixes most of these is simple and unglamorous: read every statement before every recording. Our DELE A2 prep drill it as a timed routine, because the thirty seconds before the audio starts decide more items than the listening itself.
The wider picture, including fees and sittings, is in the DELE exam-day format.
A three-week A2 listening plan
Week 1: the receptive base. Numbers, prices, times, dates, and days by ear, ten minutes a day. Then, one task set daily: six short conversations, with two plays each.
Week 2: the hard tasks. Task 3 every day. Two speakers, six statements, always check for a ninguno. Add three Task 4 matching sets across the week.
Week 3: radio and full papers. Spanish radio bulletins each morning for Task 2 practice, then two or three full 40-minute papers, all four tasks, no pausing. Use the published DELE A2 Spanish model paper for at least one.
After each full paper, sort your wrong answers into three buckets: didn’t hear it, heard it but misread the statement, and heard it and guessed wrong. The middle bucket is usually the biggest, and it’s the one that responds fastest to practice.
Candidates who want the matching tasks marked and the misses diagnosed can work through them in DELE audio drills.
Anyone outside Delhi NCR does the same drills in our virtual Spanish classroom.
A SIELE certificate prep is the faster alternative when your deadline is tight.
A2 writing gives you 45 minutes for 130 to 150 words. Start with the A2 Spanish writing papers.
How comprensión auditiva is scored at DELE A2
Listening carries 25 of the diploma’s 100 points. At A2, it sits in Group 2 with speaking, and the pair needs at least 30 out of 50 points. Reading and writing form Group 1, and the groups do not compensate for one another.
So listening and speaking rise together. If your speaking is your weaker skill, listening is where you build the cushion, and it’s the more trainable of the two because the format is fixed and the item types are predictable.
There is no penalty for wrong answers in the DELE, so an unanswered item is strictly worse than a wrong one. Fill every box.
Not sure this is your level? CEFR Spanish ladder sets out the descriptors.
Exam day in India
DELE runs six times a year in India, in February, April, May, July, October, and November, at Instituto Cervantes New Delhi on Hanuman Road. The 2026 A2 fee is ₹6,200 before 18% GST; registration closes roughly six to eight weeks in advance, and results are released one to three months after the session.
Listening usually comes after reading and writing, so you’ll have been working for around two hours before the audio starts. Practice your listening papers at the end of a study session rather than the beginning. Concentration at minute 130 is a different skill from concentration at minute 5.
Train the two tasks that decide the paper
Tasks 1 and 2 consist of 12 straightforward multiple-choice items. Tasks 3 and 4 are thirteen items of matching and attribution, and that’s where papers are won or lost. Read the statements first, expect a ninguno, and remember three statements in task 4 are there to waste your time.
Want your listening papers graded with the misses categorized for you? Join the next DELE A2 batch in Noida or online. Call, message us on WhatsApp, or drop into the Sector 18 center for a free level check. Four to six students per batch; full mock papers included.