CEFR A2 · Elementary

A2 English - Elementary

The past arrives. You stop describing the present and start telling people what happened.

Levels
11
Grammar points
85
Active vocabulary
≈1,000 words
Certified by
Cambridge A2 Key (KET)

Where A2 counts. The level asked for when extending a UK family visa after the first 30 months.

What you can do at A2

Story length

200–400 words · 5–8 pages

Typical study time

180–200 guided hours

English you meet here

used to · yesterday · I've been

Study-time figures are the guided-hour ranges commonly published by English language schools, counted cumulatively from zero. They describe a classroom average, not a promise.

Why A2 is the level it is

A2 is where English acquires a past, and where the first genuinely English obstacle shows up: irregular verbs. Walked, played and opened follow a rule; went, saw, took and about a hundred and fifty others do not, and they are precisely the verbs you need most often. There is no shortcut. There is, however, a difference between drilling a three-column list and meeting went forty times inside sentences you cared about - only the second survives contact with a real conversation.

The other half of A2 is the present perfect, the single most misunderstood tense in the language. I lost my keys and I’ve lost my keys describe the same event; the second one says the keys are still missing. Most European languages have a form that looks like the present perfect and is used like a simple past, which makes this an active trap rather than a gap: your instinct will be confidently wrong.

This is also the level at which most self-taught learners stall. A1 has visible momentum - every week you can say something you could not say before. A2 is consolidation, and consolidation feels like standing still. It is not; it is the level that decides whether B1 takes six months or three years.

The A2 curriculum, unit by unit

11 levels and 85 grammar points, in the order Leo teaches them. Each unit lists its must-know forms with a real example - the supporting points are covered inside the stories.

  1. A2.1 Past Simple: be & Regular Verbs

    Past simple: be (was/were)

    I was tired. | They were at home. | Was she happy?

    Tenses

    Past simple: regular verbs (-ed)

    I worked yesterday. | She didn't call. | Did you finish?

    Tenses

    Past simple: negative and questions

    I didn't go. | Did she call? | Where did you go?

    Tenses

    Spelling rules: -ed forms

    worked, stopped (double), tried (y→i), lived (just +d)

    Tenses

  2. A2.2 Past Simple: Irregular Verbs & Narratives

    Past simple: common irregular verbs

    went, had, saw, came, took, gave, made, got, said, told, knew, thought

    Tenses

    Past continuous

    I was walking home. | What were you doing at 8?

    Tenses

    Past continuous vs past simple

    I was walking when it started to rain. | While she was cooking, he arrived.

    Tenses

  3. A2.3 Present Perfect: Experience & Recent Events

    Present perfect: ever/never

    Have you ever been to Japan? | I've never eaten sushi.

    Tenses

    Present perfect: just/already/yet

    I've just arrived. | She's already left. | Have you finished yet?

    Tenses

    Present perfect: unfinished time periods

    I've had three coffees today. | She's been ill this week.

    Tenses

    Present perfect vs past simple (basic)

    I've been to Paris. (experience) vs I went to Paris last year. (specific time)

    Tenses

  4. A2.4 Future: Plans, Predictions & Arrangements

    Going to: future plans and predictions

    I'm going to visit my sister. | It's going to rain. (evidence)

    Tenses

    Will: promises, offers, instant decisions

    I'll help you. | I'll have the fish. | I'll call you tomorrow.

    Tenses

    Present continuous for future arrangements

    I'm meeting Tom at 6. | We're flying to Rome next week.

    Tenses

  5. A2.5 Modals: Obligation, Advice & Permission

    Must: obligation

    You must wear a seatbelt. | I must go now.

    Modals

    Mustn't: prohibition

    You mustn't smoke here. | You mustn't be late.

    Modals

    Have to: external obligation

    I have to work tomorrow. | She has to wear a uniform.

    Modals

    Don't have to: no obligation

    You don't have to come. | She doesn't have to work today.

    Modals

  6. A2.6 Modals: Ability, Requests & Past Habits

    Could: past ability

    I could swim when I was 5. | She couldn't read until she was 7.

    Modals

    Could: polite requests

    Could you help me? | Could I have some water?

    Modals

    Used to + infinitive

    I used to live in Paris. | She didn't use to like fish. | Did you use to play football?

    Tenses

    Will: offers and promises

    I'll carry that for you. | I won't tell anyone.

    Modals

  7. A2.7 Nouns, Articles & Determiners (Expanded)

    Countable vs uncountable nouns (expanded)

    bread, information, advice, news, furniture, luggage (U) | a piece of advice, a slice of bread

    Nouns

    a/an vs the: contrast and reference

    I saw a dog. The dog was big. | She's a teacher. The teacher I like best.

    Articles

    Zero article: meals, sports, languages

    I had breakfast. | She plays tennis. | He speaks English.

    Articles

    some/any with uncountable nouns

    some water, some advice | any money, any information

    Determiners

  8. A2.8 Pronouns, Comparatives & Superlatives

    Reflexive pronouns

    myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves | I cut myself. | Help yourself.

    Pronouns

    Comparative adjectives: -er / more

    taller, more expensive, bigger, more interesting

    Adjectives

    Superlative adjectives: -est / most

    the tallest, the most expensive, the biggest

    Adjectives

    Irregular comparatives/superlatives

    good→better→best, bad→worse→worst, far→further→furthest

    Adjectives

  9. A2.9 Adjectives, Adverbs & Prepositions (Expanded)

    enough + noun / adjective + enough

    enough money, old enough, big enough to carry

    Adjectives

    too + adjective

    too expensive, too hot, too tired to walk

    Adjectives

    Adverbs of manner (-ly)

    slowly, carefully, quietly, easily, well (irregular)

    Adverbs

    Adverb position: manner adverbs after verb/object

    She speaks slowly. | He drove carefully. | (NOT She slowly speaks.)

    Adverbs

  10. A2.10 Conjunctions, Questions & Sentence Patterns

    so (result)

    It was raining, so we stayed home.

    Conjunctions

    when / while / before / after (time clauses)

    When I arrived, she was sleeping. | I'll call you after I finish.

    Conjunctions

  11. A2.11 Zero & First Conditional

    Zero conditional: if/when + present, present

    If you heat ice, it melts. | When it rains, the ground gets wet.

    Conditionals

    First conditional: if + present simple, will + infinitive

    If it rains tomorrow, I'll stay home.

    Conditionals

    First conditional: negative and question forms

    If you don't hurry, we'll be late. | Will you come if I invite you?

    Conditionals

The app

Leo teaches A2 by reading

The roadmap on this page is not a chart we drew for the article - it is the syllabus the app is built on. Leo takes you from your first sentence to reading the press without a dictionary, one story at a time.

Stories, not drills

Every level is taught through illustrated stories written at that level - short at A1, full pages of natural prose by C1. You learn English the way you learned to read: by reading something you want to finish.

Tap any word

Translation, pronunciation and the grammar behind the form, on the word itself. No dictionary in another tab, no losing the thread of the sentence to look something up.

A real curriculum underneath

51 levels and 395 grammar points from A1 to C1, in the order they build on each other. The stories are ordered by that curriculum, so a form is always introduced before it is used again.

Download on the App Store GET IT ON Google Play

Be told the day it lands

The app is in development. One e-mail, on launch day - that is the whole deal.

One e-mail, on launch day. No newsletter, no drip campaign.

How to actually get through A2

Learn irregular verbs in sentences, not columns

The three-column list gives you take / took / taken and no idea when to reach for the third one. A story gives you someone had taken it inside a situation you remember, which is what recall actually needs.

Notice the present perfect when you read

Every time you meet have or has plus a participle, ask what it says about now. It always says something about now - that is the entire point of the tense, and noticing it fifty times teaches it better than any explanation.

Collect phrasal verbs as single words

Give up has nothing to do with giving and put up with has nothing to do with putting. Treat each one as a new vocabulary item with its own meaning, because that is exactly what it is. Deriving them from the parts is a dead end.

Say the sentence, do not just read it

A2 is where sentences get long enough to have rhythm. English stresses the content words and swallows the rest, and reading aloud is how you stop giving every word equal weight - the thing that makes learner English hardest for natives to follow.

A2 English - frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the past simple and the present perfect?
The past simple puts an event in finished time: I saw him yesterday. The present perfect connects it to now, either because the time period is unfinished (I’ve seen him this week) or because the result still stands (he’s gone home - he is not here). A reliable test: if the sentence carries a finished time expression like yesterday or in 2019, it cannot be present perfect.
What does the A2 Key exam cover?
Cambridge A2 Key tests reading and writing, listening, and a short paired speaking test, all pitched at everyday survival topics: yourself, your family, work, shopping, travel. Grammatically it expects the present and past simple, the present perfect in its basic uses, comparatives, the common modals and the future with going to and will. The certificate does not expire.
Does A2 count for a UK visa?
Yes, for one specific step: A2 speaking and listening is what is required when extending a partner or spouse visa after 30 months, taken as an approved Secure English Language Test. It is not enough for settlement or citizenship, which ask for B1. Requirements change - confirm the current one with the Home Office before booking anything.
How many irregular verbs do I actually need?
About a hundred to be comfortable, and the top fifty carry most of the traffic. Frequency is on your side here: those verbs are irregular precisely because they are used constantly, which means you meet them constantly. Reading gets you there without a single memorisation session.
Why is my listening so much worse than my reading at A2?
Because written English shows you word boundaries and spoken English does not. What are you going to do arrives as something closer to one long word, and no amount of vocabulary fixes that. The cure is reading and listening to the same text at the same time, repeatedly, until the sounds map back onto words you already know.

Previous level

A1 - Beginner

Next level

B1 - Intermediate

The whole roadmap: 51 levels, 395 grammar points

Leo teaches A2 through illustrated stories written at A2. The app is in development - we will write once, on launch day.

One e-mail, on launch day. No newsletter, no drip campaign.

See all five levels, A1 to C1