DELF A2 Writing: Complete Guide to Production Écrite (2026)

Many students think the DELF A2 writing test is easy because the task is short. But this section can be tricky. Students often lose marks because they write too little, forget important details, or do not follow the correct format. Many also forget silent letters, accents, and gender agreement.

The good news is that DELF A2 writing is not difficult once you know what the examiner wants. You do not need advanced grammar or long sentences. You only need to write clearly and answer the question fully.

In my 15+ years of teaching French and coaching DELF candidates at LanguageNext in Noida, I have noticed a pattern that distinguishes strong A2 writers from weaker ones. It is not vocabulary or grammar, but structure. Students score much better when they use short, correct sentences instead of trying to impress the examiner with difficult French.

This guide covers the DELF A2 Production écrite format, scoring grid, task types, common mistakes, strategies for passing and achieving a high score, and a 6-week training plan built around our proven SWIRL methodology. If you want regular writing feedback from a certified teacher, our DELF A2 exam course runs in small batches with personalized corrections.

What Is the DELF A2 Writing Section?

The DELF A2 writing (Production écrite) section lasts 45 minutes and is worth 25 marks. You complete two tasks of 60-80 words each.

The paper is the last of the group session, after listening and reading. You write by hand on the answer sheet, using black or blue ink. You are not allowed to use a computer, dictionary, or phone.

As per France Education International, the official DELF administrator on behalf of the French Ministry of Education, A2 writers are expected to produce simple, connected texts on familiar topics. You are not writing essays, but short, clear messages that a French-speaking friend or relative could read without confusion.

How Is the A2 Written Section Graded and Scored?

The writing section is worth 25 points. You need at least 5 points to pass.

Examiners use a detailed grid that assesses compliance with instructions, vocabulary, grammar, and coherence. It checks task completion, your ability to communicate the main message, basic grammar, spelling, and your use of appropriate vocabulary.

Grammar matters here more than in the reading or listening sections. The examiner wants to see if you can use the present, past, and future tenses correctly in simple sentences.

Here is how the scoring typically breaks down per task, based on the official evaluation grid used by Alliance Française exam centres.

• Respect for the instruction (compliance with task and length): around 2 points
• Ability to inform and describe: around 4 points
• Lexical range: around 2 points
• Lexical accuracy (spelling): around 2 points
• Grammatical structure: around 2 points
• Morphology and syntax: around 1 to 2 points
• Cohesion (connectors like et, mais, parce que): around 1 point

Two examiners score each paper using this grid. The two scores are averaged. So precision matters: examiners reward clarity, connectors, and correct conjugations far more than fancy vocabulary.

What Are the Syllabus & Two DELF A2 Writing Tasks?

The two DELF A2 Writing tasks are predictable in format.

1. To describe a personal narrative or description, an event, a place, or a memory in 60 to 80 words.
2. A short reply to an invitation, an apology, a congratulatory message, or a thank-you message, usually by email or letter, in 60 to 80 words, using the right register and structure.

Typical task one prompts include:

• Write a postcard to a friend about your holidays in Paris
• A biographical note or a diary entry
• Describe your first day at your new office or college
• Write about a person you admire
• Ask for information about a French course
• Describe your daily routine or your favorite weekend activity
• Talk about a memorable meal or a family celebration

Typical task two prompts include:

• Reply to a friend inviting you to their birthday party
• Explain why you cannot come to a party
• Apologize to your teacher for missing a class
• Thank your host family for a lovely stay
• Invite a friend to dinner or describe your last holiday
• Accept or decline a work meeting politely
• Write an email to a friend about your new job
• Congratulate a friend on a new job or exam success

Example 1: Invite a Friend

Question: Écrivez un email à votre ami pour l’inviter à votre anniversaire.

Sample Answer:

Salut Ahmed,
Samedi prochain, c’est mon anniversaire. J’organise une fête chez moi à 18 heures. Je voudrais t’inviter. Nous allons manger un gâteau et écouter de la musique.
À bientôt,
Ravi

Example 2: Describe Your Holiday

Question: Écrivez une carte postale à votre ami. Parlez de vos vacances.

Sample Answer:

Bonjour Julie,
Je suis à Nice avec ma famille. Il fait beau et nous allons à la plage tous les jours. Hier, nous avons visité un musée. Les vacances sont très agréables.
Amitiés,
Sonia

Both tasks require a greeting, a body, and a closing. Task one needs a description and a narrative. Task two requires a response, a reason, and, usually, a polite proposal.

What Grammar Do You Need for DELF A2 Writing?

For DELF A2 Writing, you must control the present, passé composé, imparfait, futur proche, and basic negation, common adjectives, along with subject-verb agreement and common connectors. You do not need the subjunctive, perfect tenses, or the past conditional at this level.

The Council of Europe CEFR descriptors clarify A2 writing as the ability to produce simple, related text on familiar topics, using simple connectors such as “et,” “mais,” “parce que,” and “donc.” This matches the DELF grid exactly.

Your priority grammar checklist:

1. Present tense of regular, semi-irregular, and irregulars
2. Passé composé with avoir and être, including past participle agreements
3. Imparfait for descriptions and habits in the past
4. Futur proche (aller + infinitive) for near-future plans
5. Négation: ne pas, ne jamais, ne rien, ne personne
6. Possessive, qualitative, demonstrative adjectives and placements
7. Adjective agreement (gender and number)
8. Basic pronouns: subject, direct object, indirect object
9. Simple prepositions of time and place
10. Connecteurs: et, mais, ou, parce que, alors, donc, aussi

These items are a solid start; you are technically ready for A2 Writing. The rest is practice.

How Should You Structure a 60 to 80 Word Task?

A winning DELF A2 text has three blocks: a greeting and opening line, a middle section with two to three connected ideas, and a closing line and sign-off. This simple structure fits well within 60-80 words and aligns with examiners’ expectations.

Here is the template I drill with my students for task one:

• Opening (10 to 15 words): Greeting plus a one-sentence context. “Salut Marie, je t’écris de Paris où je passe mes vacances.”
• Middle (35 to 50 words): Two or three connected ideas describing what, when, where, and how you feel. Use the passé composé for events, the imparfait for descriptions, and the présent for ongoing facts.
• Closing (10 to 15 words): A short future plan or polite line plus sign-off. “À bientôt, je t’embrasse. Sophie.”

For task two, the structure changes slightly:

• Opening: Acknowledge the message (thank you, I am sorry, great news).
• Middle: Explain your situation, give a reason, and make a counter-proposal if needed.
• Closing: Friendly line plus sign-off.

You can use DELF A2 writing phrases. Some of these phrases can help in many writing tasks:

• Je voudrais t’inviter – I would like to invite you
• Merci pour ton message – Thank you for your message
• J’espère que tu vas bien – I hope you are well
• Je ne peux pas venir – I cannot come
• Samedi prochain – Next Saturday
• À bientôt – See you soon
• Cordialement – Yours sincerely
• Je suis en vacances – I am on holiday
• Hier, j’ai visité – Yesterday, I visited
• Peux-tu me répondre?- Can you reply to me?

Learn one template per task. Practice until you can write it without thinking. Exam-day nerves will thank you.

How Do You Hit the 60 to 80 Word Count?

Stay within 10 percent of the word count, ideally 65 to 80 words. Writing under 54 words results in the loss of compliance marks, and writing over 90 carries a higher risk of grammar errors without reward. Count your words as you write, and budget: 15 words for opening, 50 for body, 15 for closing.

Examiners are trained to check word count. In my weekly mock corrections, I see two recurring patterns that cost students marks:

1. Undershooting (30 to 50 words). Usually, when the student runs out of ideas, fix it by learning 3 description templates for each topic family.
2. Overshooting (90 to 120 words). Usually, because the student panicked. Fix by writing one sentence less and editing for clarity.

A simple trick: in every task, aim for five sentences. Five average-length French sentences usually land between 60 and 80 words. Count lines, not just words, to estimate on the fly.

How Should You Prepare: A 6-Week Writing Plan

A focused 6-week plan for DELF A2 level preparation, built around one written task per day plus one weekly mock correction, is enough to take most A2 candidates from hesitant to exam-ready. The method I teach at LanguageNext is simple: model, write, correct, rewrite, repeat.

The plan I recommend to my students:

• Weeks 1 and 2: Learn templates for postcards, emails, and short messages. Write one 60-word text per day.
• Weeks 3 and 4: Practice every official A2 sample prompt available. Time yourself at 45 minutes for both tasks.
• Weeks 5 and 6: Two full Writing papers per week, each followed by line-by-line correction with a coach or a self-review using model answers.

You can improve your DELF A2 writing quickly by writing a little every day. Study useful sentence patterns, read simple French Texts, correct your own writing, take feedback from a teacher, and repeat them again and again. Even 10 minutes of daily practice can make a big difference.

Sample prompts are freely available on the FEI candidate resources page. You can also check the TV5Monde page. Every student I coach goes through all of them before the exam.

Our DELF A2 course at LanguageNext adds weekly model corrections, a personalized grammar tracker, and written feedback from a certified coach.

Common Writing Mistakes That Cost Marks

The three most common mistakes in DELF A2 Writing are ignoring the word count, mixing tenses incorrectly, and forgetting the greeting or sign-off. Fixing these alone usually gains students three to five marks.

Here is a quick error checklist I give my students before every mock paper:

1. Missing greeting or sign-off. Always open with Salut, Cher, or Bonjour and close with À bientôt, Cordialement, or Bises. One mark lost for skipping either.
2. Tense chaos. Passé composé for one-time events, imparfait for descriptions and habits, and présent for general facts. Mix them logically.
3. Subject-verb disagreement. “Nous allons” not “Nous va.” Always check that the ending matches the subject.
4. Spelling of common words. “Beaucoup” not “beacoup,” “parce que” not “parceque,” “aujourd’hui” not “aujourdhui.”
5. No connectors. A text without et, mais, parce que, or alors reads like a list, not a letter.
6. Copying the prompt. Do not reproduce the question in your answer. Rephrase in your own words.
7. Illegible handwriting. If the examiner cannot read it, they cannot score it. Write cleanly.
8. Writing Too Little. If the task asks for 60 words and you write only 30, you will lose marks. Try to write between 60 and 80 words.
9. Forgetting Part of the Question. For example, if the question says “invite your friend,” say where and when. You must include all three points.
10. Using Difficult Grammar. Many students try to use advanced grammar and end up making mistakes. Simple sentences are better.
11. Using the Wrong Format. An email, a postcard, and a formal letter do not look the same. If you write “Salut” in a formal complaint letter, it may not be correct.
12. Running out of time. If Task 2 took too long, don’t skip 1. Always do both tasks, even if Task 2 is imperfect. Partial marks beat zero.

Conclusion: Your Next Step to Pass the A2 Writing Test

The A2 writing test is easier than many think. You do not need long answers or difficult grammar. You only need to write clearly, answer all the points, and use the correct format. Practice a little every day, and your writing will improve quickly.

DELF A2 Writing is the section where structure wins. Learn two templates, drill ten grammar points, stay inside the word count, and write something in every blank space. Six weeks of daily DELF exam practice, plus five mock papers, is enough for a confident score of 18 to 22 out of 25.

At LanguageNext, our DELF writing corrections are done line-by-line by certified coaches with 10+ years of DELF experience. Hundreds of our students have cleared A2 with scores above 75/100, and many have gone on to DELF B2, Canada PR, and MNC placements across NCR.

Want a faster and easier way to prepare? Book a free counseling session by calling or WhatsApp at +91 7011164582. You can also visit our Sector 18, Noida center. We’ll create a study plan based on your exam date, current level, and goals.

Your preparation for French A2 Writing also supports the other sections of the exam. That is why we recommend our detailed guides to [French A2 Listening], [French A2 Speaking], and [French A2 Reading] before the exam.

Frequently Asked Questions on A2 Production Écrite