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Does Roast Beef mean “I’m ready to settle down?”

Backward Investors

Old Dream

Low-fat croissants

Parlez-vous Restaurantian ?

Calorie Count

To be or not to be… speaking French ?

Keep on asking and you will receive

It’s going south

License to speak

Tour de Food

Who wants to live in Whatever-sur-Mer ?

EXpress yourself

How’s your skin today?

The nose job

Mission impossible?

ADN

Charity work

Sleepless in Paris

Accents

Ambassadress

Tacos fever

Bon voyage !

À la vôtre !

Blind date

Pastis anyone ?

No plan B

Irresistible

La muse et le coq

La victoire de Michelle

Act #4: Low-fat croissants

The French expression ça va is one of the most common in the entire French language. It literally means ‘it goes’. Ça va can be both a question and an answer, and it doesn’t change according to gender and number. In other words, it is invariable. How practical! A word of caution, though: it is an informal expression, so you should avoid it when speaking with people you ‘vouvoie’ or use ‘vous’ with, instead of ‘tu’. I’ve listed below some uses for ça va and some variations of it.

1. Ça va can directly ask how someone is doing.

Salut Guy, ça va ?
Hi Guy, how's it going?

Comment ça va ?
How's it going?

2. Ça va can also be used with a subject or object. Note again that ça va is invariable so there is no change for a plural subject

Ça va les filles ?
How's it going, girls?

Ça va la nouvelle voiture ?
How's the new car working?

3. Ça va can also ask whether something that was just discussed is acceptable.

On va partir vers midi, ça va ?
We'll leave around noon, is that ok? Does that work for you?

4. Ça va can also be an exclamation.

Oh ! Ça va !
Hey, that's enough!

You can answer any of the above as well as any similar questions with ça va.

- Ça va, Marc ?
- Ça va.
- How's it going, Marc?
- Fine.


- Tu vas bien, André ?
- Ça va.
- Are you well, André?
- Yes / I'm ok.


- Je vais dans ma chambre, ça va ?
- Ça va.
- I’m going to my room, ok?
- OK.


Variations of ça va:


ça va aller ? will it be ok? will that work?
ça va aller it will be ok
ça va bien ? is it going well? are you doing well?
ça va bien it's going well, I'm doing well
ça va mal it's going badly, I'm not doing so well
ça ne va pas it's not going well, it's not ok