DELF, TCF or TEF: Which French Exam Do You Need?

There are three families of French language exam, and they are not variations on each other. One is a diploma you pass or fail and keep for life. The other two are tests that measure where you are and expire after two years. Which you need is usually decided by whoever is going to read the result.

The names get used interchangeably. This page sets out what actually separates them, and who accepts which. Figures were checked in October 2026 against the awarding bodies and the French government's own published rules, and the sources are listed at the foot.

The three exams

France Éducation international runs the TCF and administers the DELF outside France, so two of the three sit under the same roof despite working on opposite principles. The TEF comes from a different institution, which is why it is offered at different UK centres.

Each has versions aimed at particular purposes. The TCF has tout public, IRN for French nationality and residency, Canada, Québec, and a version used inside the French university pre-admission procedure. The TEF has a general version alongside IRN, Études, Canada and Québec, the last also called TEFAQ. DELF has Prim for primary age, Junior and Scolaire for secondary age, and tout public, which differ in subject matter and delivery rather than in what the diploma says.

Diploma or test

This is the distinction that matters, and everything else follows from it.

DELF and DALF are diplomas. You enter at one level, you pass or you fail, and if you pass you hold that diploma for life. A DELF B1 obtained at sixteen is still a DELF B1 at forty.

The TCF and the TEF are tests. You do not enter at a level: you sit the test and it reports where you are. The awarding body of the TCF puts it in six words in its candidate handbook: "Personne ne peut échouer au TCF." Nobody can fail the TCF. There is no pass mark, so a result is neither a pass nor a failure until an institution compares it against a level it requires. The TEF works the same way on its general, Canada and Québec versions.

So the question "did I pass?" is only meaningful for DELF and DALF. For the other two the question is "what level did I get, and is that enough for the body I am applying to?"

How each one is marked

DELF and DALF

Four papers at A1 to C1, each marked out of 25, total out of 100. Two conditions must both be met: 50 out of 100 overall, and at least 5 out of 25 in every single paper. Falling below 5 in any one paper is eliminatory, whatever the total. DALF C2 is two papers of 50 with a minimum of 10.

TCF

The multiple-choice papers are scored from 100 to 699, which maps onto the framework as follows.

The scale starts at 100 because that is the floor of A1: a performance that does not demonstrate A1 is reported below it rather than given a band. The writing and speaking papers are marked out of 20 instead, with a level correspondence the awarding body itself describes as approximate: 1 for A1, 2 to 5 for A2, 6 to 9 for B1, 10 to 13 for B2, 14 to 17 for C1, 18 to 20 for C2. Two details worth knowing: the overall score for the multiple-choice papers is not a simple average of them, and the writing and speaking marks are not folded into it.

TEF

On the general, Études, Canada and Québec versions each paper is scored from 0 to 699, with the same six bands as the TCF scale, so 400 to 499 is B2. A correct answer scores one point and there is no penalty for a wrong one, so there is never a reason to leave a multiple-choice item blank. Note that the TEF reports a score for each paper rather than a single combined figure.

The TEF IRN, the version used for French nationality and residency, works differently: the level you are awarded is capped by your weakest paper. The awarding body's results page for that version gives the thresholds as 400 or more on three of the four papers and at least 367 on the lowest for B2, 300 on three and 267 on the lowest for B1, and 200 on three and 167 on the lowest for A2. Those figures appear on that one page, so confirm them there or with your centre before relying on them.

How long a result lasts

Two years is the awarding bodies' own figure in both cases, and it does not vary by version. You will see shorter figures quoted for the TEF; they are wrong.

Separately from how long the certificate itself lasts, the body receiving it may impose its own recency rule, and that is a second hurdle rather than the same one. For French naturalisation the attestation must have been issued less than two years ago. For Canadian immigration through Express Entry, results must be under two years old both when the profile is created and again when the application is submitted, which catches people whose results lapse between the two.

Which way the lifetime rule cuts depends on what you want. If you want a permanent record of level, the DELF is the only one of the three that gives you one. If you need to satisfy an authority that wants a recent test, its permanence is no help: for Canadian and Québec immigration the published lists name the two tests and not the DELF at all.

Who accepts which

This is where the choice is usually made for you. What follows is what the receiving bodies themselves publish, with links at the foot of the page.

French nationality

Since 1 January 2026 the level required is B2, in both speech and writing, for naturalisation by decree and for declaration by marriage. It was previously B1.

The official list of accepted proof names the TCF and the TEF as the only two tests. DELF and DALF are not named on it. The list is not limited to tests: it also includes the diplôme national du brevet, diplomas issued in the name of the French State at a certain level, professional certifications on the national register, and a general clause accepting any diploma attesting a level at least equivalent to B2. What that means for a particular certificate in a particular application is not something this page can tell you, and the page on the language levels for French citizenship and residency sets out the list in full with a link to the official source.

French residence permits

Also since 1 January 2026, and for first applications by people under 65: A2 for a multi-year residence permit, and B1 for a carte de résident or a permanent carte de résident.

Here the published list is wider. The TCF and TEF are again the only tests named, but DELF, DALF and DELF Pro are explicitly named among the accepted diplomas, along with the DUEF, the DFP and the DCL. So the DELF is named for residency while it is not named for nationality, which is an odd distinction but a real one.

A French university, first year of a licence

The national rule for the pre-admission procedure requires the TCF version taken within that procedure, unless the candidate holds one of a closed list of exemptions. A DELF B2 or a DALF C1 or C2 is on that exemption list. That matters a great deal from the UK, because the required TCF version is not offered by any UK centre that publishes its exam list, while DELF and DALF are sat in London. The page on applying to a French university from the UK works through the whole route.

Canada and Québec

For Canadian immigration, the Canadian government names TEF Canada and TCF Canada. Québec's own selection programme recognises the TCF for Québec, TCF Canada and the TCF. DELF does not feature in either. If Canada is the destination, the choice is between tests, not between a test and a diploma.

You choose a DELF level. You do not choose a TCF level.

This is the practical consequence most worth drawing out, and it is the opposite of how these exams are usually presented.

Sitting a DELF means committing to a level in advance. Guess too high and you can fail, including on a single weak paper while your total would otherwise have passed. Working out which level to enter is a real problem, and there is a page on choosing a DELF level with a GCSE or A Level behind you.

Sitting a TCF or a TEF removes that problem. You cannot enter at the wrong level because you do not enter at a level. The test places you, and if the number comes out lower than you hoped you have a certificate saying so rather than a failure.

So if you genuinely do not know your level, and nothing is pushing you towards a diploma, the TCF is the more sensible thing to sit, even though preparation for the DELF is far easier to find.

Which one you need

Two cautions. The levels are those published when this page was checked, and the French rules changed with effect from 1 January 2026, so confirm the current requirement with the body you are applying to. And if your purpose is an application of any kind, that body's own published list decides, not a summary, including this one.

Sitting them in the UK

All three are available in the UK, but not in the same places.

• DELF and DALF are the most widely offered, at universities and Alliance Française centres around the country.
• The TCF is offered at the Institut français du Royaume-Uni in London, which runs tout public, IRN, Canada and Québec.
• The TEF is offered at a different set of centres, including Alliance Française centres in London, Manchester, Cambridge and Bristol, and the Institut français d'Écosse in Edinburgh. The Institut français in London does not offer it.

The companion page on TCF and TEF in the UK gives the centres, versions and fees. For DELF specifically, see DELF in the UK.

Sources

• France Éducation international, the awarding body for the TCF and the administrator of DELF and DALF outside France. The scoring scale, the band mapping and the quotation above come from its candidate handbook for the TCF.
• Le français des affaires, CCI Paris Île-de-France, the awarding body for the TEF, for its versions, papers, scoring and two-year validity. The TEF IRN thresholds are on its results page for that version.
• French Ministry of National Education, Règlement des épreuves du DELF et du DALF, for the marks out of 25 and the eliminatory minimum of 5.
• service-public.gouv.fr F11926, for the nationality language level and the list of accepted proof, and F34501 for the residence permit levels and their wider list of accepted diplomas.
• France Éducation international, conditions of use for the TCF within the university pre-admission procedure, for the requirement to sit that version and the closed list of exemptions.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Québec, for the tests each accepts.

Related pages: DELF in the UK, TCF and TEF in the UK, what DELF level a GCSE or A Level student should take, applying to a French university from the UK, and the language levels for French citizenship and residency. You can also test your French level free.

Levels, fees and accepted-certificate lists change. Last checked October 2026. Confirm the current requirement with the body you are applying to before you book an exam.