DELF, DALF, TCF, TEF, and then TCF Canada, TCF Québec and TCF IRN on top. Almost every student asks me the same question eventually: which one do I actually need?
The answer never starts with the exams. It starts with what you are trying to do, because a certificate for a French university, a nationality file, a Canadian application and a CV are four different requirements, and the wrong choice costs months of preparation and a second registration fee.
This page is the decision, laid out. The checklist at the top is the same thing on five pages you can print, French and English side by side, with the traps to tick off before you pay for anything.
Free 4-page guide
The twelve-week French plan
A week-by-week plan for the next three months, built around the hours you actually have rather than the hours you wish you had.
- Three routes, from twenty minutes a day to an hour, week by week
- What to do with input and what to do with output, and why they differ
- How to tell you have moved, without waiting for an exam to say so
4 pages, free, sent straight away. Everything on this page stays free either way. You will also hear from me when a new guide or free deck goes up, and one click at the bottom of any email takes you off the list.
A diploma or a test: the difference that decides the rest
This is the distinction everything else follows from, and the one most candidates discover too late.
| DELF and DALF | TCF and TEF | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A diploma, one level at a time | A test giving a score, converted to a CEFR level |
| How long it lasts | Never expires | The attestation is valid two years |
| How it is marked | Four papers of 25, pass at 50/100 | A score, read as a band |
| Who issues it | France Éducation international | France Éducation international (TCF), CCI Paris Île-de-France (TEF) |
Your goal, and the exam it points to
Start on the left. The exam on the right is the one the body asking will actually accept, which is not always the most prestigious one available.
| If your goal is | Then the exam is |
|---|---|
| Studying at a French university | DELF B2 most often, DALF C1 for some graduate programmes. A few institutions accept a TCF score, so check the admissions page. |
| Applying for French citizenship | DELF B2, or a TCF IRN result at B2. The bar rose from B1 to B2 on 1 January 2026. |
| Immigrating to Canada | TEF Canada or TCF Canada. The result is read as an NCLC band. The DELF does not help here. |
| Immigrating to Quebec | TCF Québec, the version built for Quebec’s own programmes. |
| A recognised certificate for your CV | DELF or DALF, precisely because they never expire. |
The expensive mistake
Right acronym, wrong version
I have had students book the wrong one of these by accident, then redo months of preparation once they found out their institution did not accept it. The version matters as much as the exam: a TCF tout public does not serve a nationality file, and a DELF does not serve a Canadian one.
Book a trial lesson · $15Same acronym, different paper
This table is the one worth printing. Most of the expensive mistakes are not the wrong exam, they are the right exam in the wrong version.
| Version | What it is for |
|---|---|
| TCF tout public | The general version, scored on the CEFR scale. Not the one a nationality file asks for. |
| TCF IRN | Intégration, résidence et nationalité. A different paper from the tout public, and it has to be booked under that name. |
| TCF Canada | Four compulsory papers, read as an NCLC band by IRCC. |
| TCF Québec | Quebec’s own immigration programmes. |
| TEF Canada | The other test Canada accepts, alongside the TCF Canada. |
| DELF and DALF | One diploma per level: DELF from A1 to B2, DALF at C1 and C2. |
Tick these before you pay for a registration
Seven lines. Each one is a mistake I have watched a student make, and every one of them costs either months or a second fee.
- J’ai choisi l’examen à partir de mon objectif, pas de la date la plus procheI chose the exam from my goal, not from the nearest available date
- J’ai vérifié la liste acceptée auprès de l’organisme qui la demandeI checked the accepted list with the body that asks for it
- J’ai réservé la bonne version, pas seulement le bon sigleI booked the right version, not just the right acronym
- Mon attestation aura moins de deux ans le jour où mon dossier sera examinéMy attestation will be under two years old the day my file is examined
- Je n’ai pas confondu l’exigence de langue, l’examen civique et l’entretienI have not merged the language requirement, the civic exam and the interview
- Je sais qu’on ne combine pas un oral et un écrit de deux certificationsI know you cannot combine an oral and a written from two certifications
- J’ai travaillé la production écriteI have worked on written production
The clock, which decides more cases than difficulty does
When both a diploma and a test are accepted, candidates usually choose on difficulty. That is the wrong axis. A test attestation has to be less than two years old on the day your file is examined, not on the day you submit it, and between appointments, documents and processing a file can easily spend longer than that in the system.
The DELF B2 asks for more preparation, because it is a full four-skill exam with no adaptive shortcut. But you sit it once and never think about it again. If your procedure is likely to run long, that is worth more than a shorter test.
Exam formats and immigration requirements change, and a given institution may ask for one precise version. Confirm the requirement with whoever is asking for it, whether that is a university, IRCC for Canada, or your préfecture for citizenship, before you register for anything.