CEFR A1 explained: what A1 speaking actually sounds like
By Maya Lindqvist, Language Learning Coach · Sep 2, 2026 · 12 min read
What CEFR A1 means
A1 is the first of the six CEFR levels, the one the framework calls Breakthrough. You can use everyday phrases, introduce yourself, and answer simple questions about where you live and what you have.
The condition matters more than the list. Every A1 interaction descriptor adds ‘provided the other person speaks slowly, repeats, and helps you formulate what you are trying to say’.
That is not a criticism. It is the definition: at A1 you hold a conversation with a partner who is doing half the work.
The framework, published by the Council of Europe in 2001 and extended in 2020, describes what you can do, not what you know.
The official A1 can-do descriptors
The Council of Europe publishes one can-do statement per skill per level. These are the A1 rows, shortened, with what each one means when you are the person speaking.
• Spoken interaction: simple exchanges, if the other person repeats, rephrases and slows down
• Spoken production: simple phrases about where you live and the people you know
• Listening: familiar words about you and your surroundings, spoken slowly and clearly
• Reading: names, single words and simple sentences on notices, posters and menus
• Writing: a short postcard, and a form with your name and address
What A1 speaking actually sounds like
Short memorised phrases, one at a time, with a pause wherever the speaker has to search.
Here is an A1 answer, written to illustrate the descriptors rather than recorded from a learner.
‘I am Ana. I am from Porto. I live… in Lisbon now. I work in a hotel. I like Lisbon.’
Then the repair. Asked the same thing at normal speed, she says ‘Sorry?’, and answers only once the question is slowed and cut into pieces.
A year later, at A2, she says: ‘I moved to Lisbon because my sister live here, so I speak with tourists every day.’ A past tense, a ‘because’, a ‘so’.
The assessors’ table describes the A1 version under five headings.
• Range: a basic stock of words for personal details and concrete situations
• Accuracy: a few structures controlled only inside phrases learnt whole
• Fluency: short isolated utterances with much pausing, meaning still arriving
• Coherence: ideas joined with ‘and’ and ‘then’, rarely anything else
• Pronunciation: understood with effort by listeners used to your accent
Typical A1 mistakes, and which ones are normal
Errors are not a sign that you are below A1. Errors of a particular kind are what A1 is.
The accuracy descriptor says so outright: limited control of a few structures inside a repertoire learnt by heart. These are the ones I hear every week.
• Dropping ‘be’ and articles: ‘I student’, ‘she teacher’
• Unmarked third person: ‘she go’, ‘he work’
• Questions made by intonation alone: ‘You have car?’
• No past tense: ‘Yesterday I go to the market’
• Word order borrowed from your first language, especially adjectives and negatives
What A1 cannot do
A1 is a real achievement and a real ceiling. Better you hear the ceiling from me than from a ticket inspector.
Four things are still out of reach.
A1 is enough to buy a ticket. It is not enough to explain that the machine ate your card.
If that describes you, you are not failing. You are A1.
• A conversation with a stranger who is not slowing down for you
• Anything unexpected: the shop shut, the train cancelled, an unfamiliar form
• Telling someone what happened yesterday in connected sentences
• The telephone, which removes the face, the gestures and the patience
How A1 is tested and certified
Few exams report A1 on its own, and in English it arrives as a low score on the A2 paper.
Academic admission tests start above A1, so an A1 learner has no reason to sit one. Visa rules move, so check the current requirement on gov.uk before you book anything.
• English: 100 to 119 on A2 Key is reported as A1
• German: Goethe-Zertifikat A1, with Start Deutsch 1 for adults
• French: DELF A1
• UK family visa: an approved A1 speaking and listening test at first application
The hours from A1 to A2
Another 90 to 100 guided hours, roughly, which is the shortest step on the ladder.
Guided hours are hours under a teacher, with self-study on top, not time spent inside the language.
Now the sum that matters. In a class of twelve, with half of each lesson given to speaking, you talk for two and a half minutes an hour.
A hundred hours buys you four hours with your mouth open. That is why two people finish the same course and only one of them can speak.
• English: 90 to 100 guided hours to A1, 180 to 200 to A2 (Cambridge)
• French: 60 to 100 hours to A1, 160 to 200 to A2 (Alliance française)
• German: 60 to 150 clock hours to A1, 150 to 260 to A2 (Goethe)
• Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic: no board publishes a comparable figure
A daily speaking routine for A1
Twenty to thirty minutes a day, and most of it out loud.
Rotate the ground the descriptors cover: yourself, family, home, routine, food, shopping, directions.
The partner is the hard part. The descriptor asks for someone who repeats and slows down every time, and few humans manage that daily. An AI coach repeats without sighing; Lucida is one, and I say that knowing whose blog this is.
When you play the recording back, do not listen for fluency. Listen for shorter pauses and a first ‘because’. That is the sound of A2 arriving.
• Five minutes shadowing a slow, short clip you understand completely
• Ten to fifteen minutes of conversation on one familiar topic
• Answer, add one more sentence, then ask a question back
• Five minutes on the three words you reached for and did not have
• Once a month, record two minutes describing your morning
Frequently asked questions
Is A1 enough to travel?
For transactions yes, for surprises no. Tickets, rooms, menus and directions all work with someone willing to repeat. The descriptor says communication is ‘totally dependent on repetition, rephrasing and repair’, and the unexpected moments of a trip rarely arrive with a patient person attached.
How long does A1 take from zero?
Roughly 60 to 150 guided hours, depending on the language. Cambridge estimates 90 to 100 for English, the Alliance française 60 to 100 for French, the Goethe-Institut 60 to 150 clock hours for German. In my experience daily speaking, not extra reading, is what shortens the calendar.
Is A1 the same as beginner?
In everyday use yes, in the framework no. A true beginner is Pre-A1: a stock of memorised words and phrases, with no ability yet to build new ones. A1 is the first level with generative capacity, where sentences you have never heard start to show through.
What is the difference between A1 and A2?
A2 adds connected sentences, a past tense and reasons introduced by ‘because’. A1 speaks mostly in memorised phrases linked by ‘and’ and ‘then’. Listen for a ‘because’ and a ‘yesterday’; when both appear reliably, you are leaving A1.
Can I get a certificate at A1?
Yes. Cambridge issues an A1 certificate to candidates who score 100 to 119 on A2 Key, and the Goethe-Zertifikat A1 and DELF A1 certify German and French. For UK visas, the approved A1 speaking and listening tests are the ones that count.
What should I practise first at A1?
Speaking about yourself, out loud, every day. The A1 descriptors are all personal details and concrete situations, so drill the topics you will be asked about: name, home, work, family, routine, food. Learn phrases as whole units and say them until they come out without a pause.
Get the patient partner A1 depends on
Lucida is an AI speaking coach app for iOS and Android: you hold real spoken conversations with an AI coach, Lucy, and get feedback on pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, pace and filler words. It adapts to your level and interests, which is the partner the A1 descriptor assumes. Free to download; some features require a subscription.
