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Why not "il casse" or "elle casse"? Sometimes "il" and "elle" are used as "it"...
When you have no context, you need to keep the gender. “It” is « ça » or « cela » as long as the sentence is that short and out of context.
But what about il neige or il pleut? There il is used as it (and neige and pluie are both feminine).
1624
According to the language teacher Michel Thomas when the phrase it is is followed by a word ending in…ing the phrase it is translated as ça
examples
ça commence - It is starting
ça ne reste pas - It is not staying
ça va être - It is going to be ..
ça prend trop de temps - It is taking too much time
Ca devient ennuyeux - it is becoming boring
Ça ne va pas être facile à organiser. - That is not going to be easy to organize.
ça prendre - It is taking
Exception When you have impersonal expressions with a dummy subject then you use il
examples
it is raining - il pleut
it is snowing - il neige
il commence à pleuvoir - it is starting to rain
In those examples, you are making a statement about the weather (le temps), so it is standard to use the impersonal pronoun il. If you're making a brief statement about something other than the weather, ça or cela is a kind of dummy pronoun when the gender is either unclear or unimportant, like when the noun is abstract or unnamed.
Those are meteorological verbs (rain or snow), like "It´s time to go home". They always use "it".
"Cela" is usually more specific than :"ça", sort of like the difference between "that" and "that one there".
They are the same. Ça is the short, informal form of cela, often used in speech.
Just curious if this is a construction simply to use the verb, or if "ca casse" is an expression in French to imply something else (or a comment on a broader issue). Anybody know?
- 1579
I don't know about "Ça casse" but "Ça marche?" is an expression one of my teachers (who is French) used to use frequently. Meaning does that work / is that ok / do you understand?
- 1260
casse-toi = get out (slang), une casse-croûte = a snack … and there are more.
- 1260
No, I should have said that. I learned French in France in early childhood but have gotten rusty since for lack of use. Trying to brush up :=)
- 300
that's still way cool that you lived in france and learned the language in an immersive situation. : )
- 1711
It is no special expression; it is only a conjugation of the verb "casser".
Generally: "Ce" before a noun or the verb être. "Ça" ou "cela" before any other verb or at the end of an expression.
J'aime bien ce jeu. Ce sont des vêtements. Ça fait combien? J'aime ça.
does this imply' it breaks'...something or 'it breaks ' as in it itself is broken?
- 1711
"C'est cassé" = it's broken. The verb "casser" can be used either transitively (with a direct object) or intransitively, as it is in "Ça casse" (it breaks/it is breaking).
- 1711
It is not reflexive here, although "se casser" could be used to express the idea that "it" is breaking (itself) rather than just breaking. That would be a degree of specificity that would not translate directly. It is breaking (because something else is breaking it) or "it is breaking" because of its own action.
Because we are not sure of what causes the egg to break. Se is used to imply that it does something to itself here the doer of the action or the cause is not important
the verb "rompre avec" is the right one i guess:
“Je romps avec toi.” “I am breaking up with you.”
“Elle rompt avec moi.” “She is breaking up with me.”
“Tu romps avec moi?” “Are you breaking up with me?”
ok too many sad stories i suppose
:(
- 1711
There are a few French idioms using "ça casse" but in general it's "it breaks". http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/francais-anglais/%C3%A7a%20casse
I found the following explanation which makes a lot of sense to me: - soit on réussit, tout est OK, ça passe - soit on ne réussit pas et ça aura des conséquences irréversibles, ça casse. If you'll pardon my French, it is somewhat equivalent to "That sucks!", depending on context, bien sûr.
- 1711
If you use a Windows PC, you can add a virtual keyboard in settings: language, keyboard, change keyboard, select US International. It is the standard QWERTY keyboard but allows almost all the French characters: é è ê ï ç ...all without having to type in special "ALT" characters.
- 1711
It is an idiom. Another example of how a literal translation often doesn't work. http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/francais-anglais/casse%20toi
Does "Ça" and "Sa" have different sounds? or do they sound the same and you know which one based on context?
They have exactly the same sound. It should be obvious which one to use based on context, because ça is a pronoun, so it can be the subject or object of an action, but sa is only a possessive adjective and must come before the noun it describes. So if you hear ça and a verb, or ça by itself at the end of a phrase, it's the pronoun.
"Breakable" would be "cassable" or "fragile", so... "it is breakable" translates to "il est cassable/fragile".
Quelle est la différence entre 'briser' et 'casser'? Est-ce qu'ils veulent dire la même chose?
Hold the letter down and you will see various forms of the letter to choose from.
Just the opposite -- 'casse' is only a singular conjugation. All verbs ending in '-er' in the infinitive are conjugated the same way: « je casse ; tu casses ; il/elle casse » are singular; « nous cassons ; vous cassez ; ils/elles cassent » are plural. Also, since the subject is 'ça', which is strictly singular, then the verb must be singular as well.
For some reason the spoken word here pronounces the vowel 'e' in the word 'casse'. I've learned that letter 'e' in the end of the word is silent. This is contradicting, and I would like to know the truth.
- 1711
The answer is: it varies. Different dialects pronounce words differently. The female voice does not pronounce the final "e" as a separate syllable, but the male voice does. This is not a bad thing. It is a good thing because you will learn that even French people may pronounce words slightly differently.
Is "casser" used both in the sense of "The window broke" and "You broke the window"? More generally, does French have ergative verbs as in English?
It accepted "That breaks." I did wonder if "It's breakable" was meant, but I see that came up here and there's a different word for "breakable."
- 300
yeah. sort of weird. google translate didn't wanna use 'breaking' as the gerund either when i did some testing with different ways of saying 'breaking' in google translate. i think it's bc of how french handles gerunds, which can be trickier than how english speakers handle gerunds. wish i had a better answer. i share your wonder and slight frustration. : )
Wife: hands husband the baby for a moment "Here. And be careful, ça casse."
What's throwing me is that the "ca" in "Ca casse" seems to be used here as the COD, rather than the subject. This sentence means, I assume, that "it" has been broken by something, not that it has broken something else. In that vein, would the answer to the question "What is the baseball doing?" be "Ca casse la fenetre," or would that be "Il casse la fenetre"?
The game of baseball is masculine. So, it is “le baseball, but the ball is feminine “la balle de baseball”, so it would be “Elle casse le fenêtre.” or “Ça” which would mean “this” or “that” or the impersonal “it”.
Now, if you wanted to talk about the window which is also feminine and you wanted to say “It was broken.” You could say “Elle s’est cassé.” Now, notice that this is reflexive which is used in French instead of the passive voice in English. This is used when you don’t know how the window broke. The children say that no one broke the window - it broke all by itself....
That woud have been « C’est cassé. »
This is the present form « Ça casse. » “That breaks.” or “That is breaking.”
“Ça” specifically means “that”, “this” or “it”, and “ce” or “ c’ “ can mean “this” or “that” or “it” (In certain other sentences it can be translated as “she” or “he” depending on what follows.). In French they don’t like to use “Ça” with “a” or “est” directly after it for the sound. So it is used in other expressions.
“A cassé” is the passé composé which means “has broken”, but in English we can also use the more generic simple past “broke”. “C‘est cassé.” gives the status or condition of the item. “That is broken.”, while the previous focuses on the action that happened “That has broken...” or “That broke...”. You need to add a direct object. https://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/a+cass%c3%a9
https://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/Casser
There is even a reflexive form to use if you break your leg.
