EU English

CEFR LEVELS

DESCRIPTION

BEGINNER

• Can understand and use familiar (=things you know well), concrete everyday expressions and very basic phrases.
• Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has.
• Can interact (=communicate) in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
• Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I’d like, ‘s – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are

ELEMENTARY

• Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions  (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).
• Can communicate in simple and routine tasks and exchange information on familiar and routine matters.
• Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
• Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should

INTERMEDIATE

• Can understand the main points of clear standard input (=language you hear or read) on familiar matters regularly encountered (=met) in work, school, leisure, etc.
• Can deal with most situations while travelling in an area where the language is spoken.
• Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of interest.
• Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
• Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past

UPPER-

INTERMEDIATE

• Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.
• Can interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.
• Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint (=opinion) on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
• Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses

ADVANCED

• Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts.
• Can express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions.
• Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.
• Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices (=words that connect ideas between sentences).
• Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

PROFICIENT

(NEAR-NATIVE)

• Can understand with ease (=easily) virtually (=almost) everything heard or read.
• Can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments (=reasons that show that something is correct) and accounts (=description) in a coherent (=making sense) presentation.
• Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning (=different meanings) even in the most complex situations.