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- "Ça va bien ?"
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The little hover box told me it meant "I'm doing well"! I thought it meant "How are you?" but I trusted the little hover box! This is so upsetting.
ca va bien is both a question and an answer, as in "ca va bien?" - are you doing well? and "ca va bien" - i am doing well.
how are you? is better translated as comment ca va?/ comment allez-vous?/ comment vas-tu?
"Ca va?" and "Ca va," are just shortenings of a common phrase. Kind of informal, and a literal translation doesn't really work.
Think "All right?" and the response "All right," in the UK.
So subtle than they can be interchangeable.
ça va?/Comment ça va? = no adverb. How are you?
ça va bien? = adverb "well", are you fine?
2301
You have learned a valuable lesson. Never, never, never trust the little hover box without checking it out with other resources first if you are not sure. The items listed are merely suggestive of possible meanings and are not in any way an indication that they are all viable translations for the sentence before you, i.e., they are hints, not necessarily solutions.
[Edit: "Ça va bien" is an idiom which is translated in the general sense of "I'm doing well" or "I'm fine". However, take the same expression and put a question mark after it and it becomes "How are you doing?" or "Are you doing well/alright?" or "How are things?" So when it's a question, make sure you put it in the proper form of a question.]
That's why I check these comments.. Gotta love the feedback from everyone!
'How are you doing?' seems like a US-centric translation. In Australia we would say 'How are you going?' so this answer should also be accepted, especially when the hover box suggests the translation is 'It goes well'.
Around where I live in Alberta, Canada, sometimes I hear people saying, "How's it going?" That seems to mean, "Hi, how are you?"
- 2301
On a Windows PC, go to the control panel, Language, Keyboard, Change Keyboard, select US International. You will be able to type everything normally on QWERTY keyboard in addition to à ç é è ê ô ï and « ». On a smartphone, hold your finger momentarily on the letter and other character options will appear.
so, basically, ca va? with a question mark is "how's it going?' ca va without a question mark or ca va bien. is a statement and means "i'm doing good" ?
"bien" means "well". as in "I'm doing well". I was taught in school to say "Comment allez-vous?" which means "How are you?" Literally, it means "How go you?" Sometimes I hear people say "How's it going?"
The only time people here would say, "How are you going?" is if the other person was going on a trip and they wanted to know if he or she was going by car, plane, or bus.
I said how are u and it said I did it wrong. I have had this happen before I wish it would stop.
- 2301
No, it must be written with the cedilla, "ça". On a mobile device, hold your finger on the letter "c" for a seconed. A little window will pop open to allow you to choose the correct letter. On a Windows PC, go to Control Panel, Language, Keyboard, Change keyboard, select "US International", Add, OK. You can switch to this alternate keyboard (or use it as your default keyboard) and enter the special French characters on the fly: à ç é è ê ï, etc. On a Mac, hold down the Option key while you type "c" to get "ç" or Shift-Option-C to get "Ç".
- 1235
Also on a PC, you can hold down the "Alt" key and (at the same time), press the numbers 0199 to get Ç; for ç, hold down the Alt key and (again, at the same time) press the numbers 0231. I hope that helps someone too!
Is this the equivalent of asking in English "are you alright?" Or is it more like "how are you doing?"
- 2301
There are a hundred different ways that people ask this kind of question. That's why Duolingo tries to constrain the number of English answers. Just remember how to say it in French!
- 2301
From the audio, there is a slight rise (inflection) in the voice which indicates it is a question.
- 2301
The expression is rather wide open to contextual interpretation.
- In a restaurant, the server may say "would you like some more water?" No thanks, I'm good (means I don't need anymore water).
- "I am good" could be referring to one's behavior (I am well-behaved) or "I am a good person."
- "I am good" could possible refer to how one is getting along, in response to a general inquiry.
So we need to look to the nearest French idiom to convey what it is you mean. In the sense of a reply to a general inquiry in the form of "comment ça va ", it would be "ça va bien". Note that the form of the question influences the form of the response.
I don't think "Are you doing well" is either a correct nor appropriate as a translation. I'm calling ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ on this answer!
