Complétez : Je ___ Marie et je viens du Portugal.
Swiss fide test (Français) · fide Français
Free Swiss fide test French practice questions (all nine everyday themes)
Fifteen questions in Swiss French, drawn from all nine everyday themes the fide test is built around. The questions are in French because the test is; each explanation is in English. These are the everyday-language items: the listening and reading tasks need audio and passages that a static page cannot carry, so they stay in the app. Format and permit levels are on the fide test page; the full bank of 446 questions, the Swiss-French audio, the writing and speaking modules and the level-indicator mock are in the app.
Practice
Free practice questions
Le matin, je me ___ à sept heures.
La pièce où l'on cuisine s'appelle la ___.
Où travaille un enseignant?
Où achète-t-on du pain?
Complétez : On voit avec les ___.
Complétez : Je prends le ___ pour aller au centre-ville.
Où va-t-on s'annoncer quand on emménage dans une nouvelle ville ?
Complétez : Le dimanche, j'aime faire une ___ en forêt.
Quel est le contraire de « jeune » ?
À midi, je prends mon ___ à la cantine.
J'habite au troisième ___ de l'immeuble.
Que fait-on dans un cours de français?
Où achète-t-on de la viande?
Complétez : On entend avec les ___.
What these questions do and do not cover
The fide test has four skills and this page can honestly practise one and a half of them. Reading tasks need their passage, listening tasks need Swiss-French audio, and speaking and writing need an examiner or a model answer to compare against. What a web page does carry well is the everyday vocabulary and sentence-level French that sits underneath all four, which is exactly what the nine themed categories hold. Treat the fifteen below as a vocabulary and usage check across the whole everyday range, not as a mock.
The Swiss usage that catches people out
Most learners arriving at fide have studied the French of France, and the everyday vocabulary is where that shows. None of these are difficult words. They are simply different ones, and they appear constantly in the situations the test is built around.
- septante for 70 and nonante for 90, never soixante-dix or quatre-vingt-dix
- huitante for 80 in Vaud, Valais and Fribourg, while Geneva keeps quatre-vingts
- natel, the mobile phone
- billet for a public transport ticket, and the tram you use it on
- commune, the local authority, which is where most official business happens
- caisse-maladie, compulsory health insurance, a topic in its own right
- déchetterie and the point de collecte, with the commune's sorting rules attached
- service and action in a shop, where action means a special offer
Why a level test changes how you should prepare
Because fide grades rather than passes you, the usual exam tactic of drilling to just clear a threshold does not apply cleanly. Two things follow. First, the oral level is weighted, Parler two thirds and Comprendre one third, so speaking practice buys more level than listening practice does. Second, since oral and written are recorded separately, and most permits ask for a higher spoken level than written, it is normal and sensible to prepare the two parts to different depths rather than evenly.
Not connected to fide or the SEM
RiverMap Learning is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the fide secretariat, the State Secretariat for Migration or any accredited test centre. Every question here is original, written to the publicly documented format of the test; the official model tests and scenario materials are copyright-protected and none are reproduced. Book through an accredited centre and confirm the current format, levels and fee on the official fide page.
| Oral part | Written part | |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | Parler and Comprendre | Lire and Écrire |
| Duration | about 40 minutes | about 60 minutes |
| How the level is worked out | Parler two thirds, Comprendre one third | Lire and Écrire together |
| Recorded on the language passport | One level: A1, A2 or B1 | One level: A1, A2 or B1 |
| Typical permit requirement | A1 for family reunification, A2 for a C permit, B1 for naturalisation | A1 for a C permit, A2 for naturalisation |
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can you fail the Swiss fide test?
Not in the usual sense. fide grades each part to a level of the Common European Framework rather than passing or failing you, and the language passport records one level for the oral part and one for the written part. What can happen is that you do not reach the lower level of the combination you chose, in which case you are not certified at that combination. That is why choosing between A1 to A2 and A2 to B1 matters more than it looks.
What French level do you need for Swiss naturalisation?
Ordinary and simplified naturalisation generally need spoken B1 and written A2. A C settlement permit needs spoken A2 and written A1, an early C permit needs spoken B1 and written A1, and family reunification on a B permit usually needs spoken A1. Cantons may set higher requirements than the federal minimum, so confirm your exact level with your canton or commune.
Are these real fide test questions?
No. The official fide model tests and scenario materials are copyright-protected, with rights held by the State Secretariat for Migration, and none of that material is reproduced. Every question here is original, written by RiverMap Learning to the publicly documented format of the test, in Swiss French with an explanation in English.
Is the fide test in Swiss French, and how is that different?
It is in Swiss French, fr-CH, which is standard French with Swiss numbers and everyday vocabulary rather than a dialect. In practice that means septante for 70 and nonante for 90, huitante for 80 in Vaud, Valais and Fribourg, and words such as natel, billet, tram, commune, caisse-maladie and déchetterie. Our listening audio is recorded with Swiss-French voices for the same reason.
How long does the fide test take and how long do results take?
The oral part takes about 40 minutes and the written part about 60 minutes, and they are separate parts rather than one sitting of 100 minutes. The result, the language passport, usually arrives about four to six weeks later. You book directly at an accredited test centre with no obligation to take a preparation course first.
Why do these free questions not include listening or reading tasks?
Because they would not work on a static page. A fide listening task needs its Swiss-French audio and a reading task needs its passage, so surfacing either here would give you a question you cannot answer. The fifteen questions on this page are the everyday-language items from all nine themes; the reading passages, the recorded listening tasks, the writing module and the speaking module with model answers are in the app.