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- Topic: French >
- "Salut, ça va ?"
225 Comments
I PUT: HELLO ARE YOU WELL AND IT DIDN'T GET ACCEPTED LOL XD. (ノ•̀ o •́ )ノ ~ ┻━┻
The version "ça va" is not wrong, but It would be better to say "ça va bien, merci (the actual literal translation in this case would be "It is going well, thanks", if you want stay close to the formality in your conversation.
(And sorry for my mistakes, if I have many. I am not a proficient user of English yet :) )
See here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/2618775
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Comment ça va? (with the cédille, it's important), is litterally: how is it going? And the meaning is "How are you", because English, uses the verb "to be" where French uses the verb "to go", it's an idiomatic choice.
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ça va? Is the short for "Comment ça va", it is: it's ok? (litterally: it's going?)
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ça va bien/ ça va. is the possible answer to "Comment ça va?"/"ça va". I'm fine.
it differs when you put a question mark or a period at the end of the sentence. "ça va." can be "comment ça va?" as well and can be used as how are you doing or how are you. maybe it's just the way it is. i usually overthink and i always find myself confused cause i compare french in english too much and not realising that french has its own rules when it comes to grammar. anyway, i hope it helps. and if you have any corrections cause i'm open at any corrections. ;)
There's difference between question and answer in French. In fomal questions, you make a subject/verb inversion, ex: Comment allez-vous? But for "ça va" it's not possible,it is unformal, almost slang.
"ça va" is the short for "ça va bien", when you say "ça va bien"/ "Je vais bien", there's no possible confusion.
Yes, "sa va" is really improper and used by people who are not very good at spelling... I can understand they put "ca va" for "ça va", because they're too lazy to find the "ç" on the keyboard (It's a chat...), but I don't understand why people like to write" "sa" instead of "ça".
But it's the same with every language on the chats, the English uses more and more "u" instead of "you", "2" for "to", and "nite" for "night".
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It is also the most popular way to ask' how are you/?'. The intonation of the voice, raised at the end of the sentence, means it's a question.
I don't think so, All is well, is as "everything's ok". In French, "Tout va bien?" and it doesn't mean you greet the person personnally, but you ask about how the general things are.
-Tout va bien dans ton travail? (Everything's ok in your job?) -Oui, tout va bien, merci.
-Tout va bien? You ask it when you need to be reassured about something, maybe the person is ill, etc... So, you ask "Tout va bien?"
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I wrote: "Hi, How are you going?" and it marked me wrong.
"Va" is from the verb "aller" to go, so surely mine is a closer translation than "How are you doing" ?
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But the correct answer had a "you" in it. I was objecting to DL accepting "How are you DOing" but not "How are you GOing" when the verb used (va) is from ALLER - TO GO - it's the same in Greek.
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Suppose you're emailing a friend. In such a case, could "ça vaS ?" be used in the same sense (of "how are you?")? Thanks (27 Aug., 2020).
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Is there any point in telling Duo this entire Greetings exercise is not working!? I've completed the first set of questions two times, getting a Perfect both times, and it just will not give me the points earned AND it won't go on to the next lesson. This seems to be a glitch in the program and I hope it gets resolved.