: How to tell binary form from ternary form? I know that binary form has 2 equal sections (AB) and ternary has 3 (ABA), but because my piece of ABA form music has 6 bars and can be divided into 3 equal sections, it means that

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Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman? It's essentially ternary. The first 4-bar phrase starts and ends on the tonic; the repeated 2-bar phrases are pretty much elaborating the dominant; and the last 4-bar phrase performs a slightly varied reprise of the first. The very clear tonal scheme and the equally clear thematic divisions enforce this reading. The repetition of the middle two bars acts as a unitary idea, not as an ending of the first half/start of the second.