"Ça va ?" : A conversation

Salut tout le monde, ça va?

Have you ever noticed how much francophones use the phrase ça va? Yeah, a lot. Like a lot, a lot. It feels like you and I could have an entire conversation using different variations of ça va! Let’s highlight ways to use this simple phrase to expand our vocabulary and converse more naturally. I took the liberty of coming up with a little made-up conversation between two imaginary friends to start us off on our ça va journey. On y va !

M: “Salut Hélène, ça va ?” H: “Salut Marie ! Oui, ça va merci. Et toi ? M: “Bah, ça va bien.” H: “Ça va ton nouvel boulot ?” M: “Ça va très bien ! J’adore être avocate.” H: “J’ai toujours dit que ça t’irait bien.” M: “Et toi ? Ton nouvel boulot ? Ça va ?” H: “En fait, pas beaucoup. Être médecin est vraiment difficile.” M: “T’inquiètes pas, cela deviendra plus facile avec le temps. Ça va aller.” H: “Merci Marie! Alors, je m’en vais. Je t’appelerai demain. Ça ira?” M: “Bien sûr. A bientôt!”

After all of those ça va’s (9 to be exact), are you still with me? How many different definitions of ça va did you find within that conversation? Ça va is probably one of the most useful and versatile sayings in the French language and highly utilized in familiar, friendly speech. Its meanings can range from “How are you?” to “It suits you!” Master this phrase and it’s meanings and you’re on your way to mastering conversational French.

Let’s dissect the above conversation to really see how simply you can use ça va in many different ways in a casual conversation.

M: “Salut Hélène, ca va ?”         Hey Helen, how’s it going? H: “Salut Marie! Oui, ça va merci. Et toi?        Hey Marie! I’m good, you? M: “Bah, ça va bien.”         Oh, it’s going well. H: “Ça va ton nouvel boulot?” How’s your new job? M: “Ça va très bien ! J’adore être avocat, c’est sûr.”         Oh, it’s going great! I love being a lawyer, that’s for sure. H: “Bon, j’ai toujours dit que ça t’irait.”         Good! I always said that it suits you.  M: “Et toi ? Ton nouvel boulot ? Ça va ?”       And you? Your new job? How is that working? H: “En fait, pas beaucoup. Être médecin est vraiment dûre.”         In fact, not really. Being a doctor is really hard. M: “T’inquiètes pas, il deviendra plus facile avec du temps. Ça va aller.”         Don’t worry, it’ll get easier with time. It will be okay.  H: “Merci Marie ! Alors, je m’en vais. Je t’appelerai demain. Ça ira?” Thanks, Marie! Okay, well I’m off. I’ll call you tomorrow. Will that work? M: “Ça va. A bientôt!”         Okay. See you!

There are also many more ways to use ça va. In fact, here is a list of ones that we have learned and ones to try out:

• Ça va, Marc ? / How’s it going, Marc?
• Oui, ça va. / Fine.
• Tu vas bien, André ? / Are you okay, André?
• Ça va. / Yes, I’m okay.
• Il faut être prêt dans une heure, ça va ? / You have to be ready in an hour, okay?
• Ça va. / okay.
• Oh ! Ça va ! / Hey, that’s enough! (A personal favorite)
• Ça va venir / It’ll happen, it will come.
• Ça te va (bien) / That suits you.
• Ça lui va bien / That looks good on him/her.
• On va partir vers midi, ça va ? / We’ll leave around noon, is that ok? Does that work for you?
• Ça va les filles ? / How’s it going, girls?
• Ça va le nouvel ordi ? / How’s the new computer working?
• Ça va les filles ? / How’s it going, girls?
• Ça va aller ?  / Will it be okay? Will that work?
• Ça va aller / It will be okay.
• Ça va le nouvel ordi ? / How’s the new computer working?

(examples found from https://www.thoughtco.com/ca-va-vocabulary-1371141)

Don’t hesitate to try out these phrases and get to talking. A bientôt, mes amis!

Jane Eagleton