"Are you doing well?"
Translation:Ça va bien ?
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3291
Google translator is only good for literal translations so many times will not give the correct answer. I would avoid using it
Its like a literal translation... Of are you doin well? You= tu Doin well= va bien Just in a interrogative way..
Gotta remember something "ça va" is literally translated to "It goes?" So in this sentence there is no "It" instead there is a "You" so "ça va bien" is not "Tu vas bien" and don't worry i was as much as confused as all of you... This one was a kind of a trick question to test your understanding of this language... If you fail its okay learn from it... And keep going... Good luck..
Me too, but using 2 spaces after a period is from the days of typewriters that had fixed width characters, so the period was centered within a pretty large gap. The two spaces helped to make the sentence breaks clearer. This is not how things were ever typeset, nor is it needed with modern computers that use variable width characters. So in this case it was a workaround for a fairly primitive printing device, rather than a printing convention, as it apparently is in French.
For “Are you doing well?” I answered with: Ça vas bien? I was told that was wrong. The reason I was given was this: You used the tu form "vas" instead of the il/elle/on form "va". Can someone explain why we use the il/elle/on form when we are trying to say “you”, not he/she/it. The correct solutions were: Ça va bien? And: Ça va bien ? (this last one just has a space between bien and the question mark). I hope someone can understand my confusion.
No, "s'il y a..." means "if there is..." where the <s'> is contracted from "si" (=if).
To understand "ceci" and "celà", you may to start with the literal translation: ceci = this thing here and celà = that thing there):
- this is longer than that = ceci est plus long que celà
As in English, "ceci/this/here" is closer to you in time or space and "celà/that/there" is further in time or space.
In speech, "celà" is simplified as "ça" but "ceci" is never simplified.
3291
Yes, but to me it does mean: "How are you doing? well? That is what the comma is for. I agree that "Comment ca va bien" without a comma (and with the circumflex which I can't type here...) would be incorrect.
No "ça va" is only used for health (I'm fine), or to mean, "it's ok", like in this example:
-How is your pupil's work today?
-ça va/ ça peut aller.
-Do you think my drawing is ok? -oui, ça va!
It's not very enthusiastic here...
The confusion, is because they didn't teach "Comment ça va?" and "Comment allez-vous?" before teaching "ça va bien" and "ça va".
Let's try to start again...
The proper formal form is "Comment allez-vous?"/ "Comment vas-tu?"
Then, the informal form use the impersonal "ça" instead of the pronoun "vous" and "tu". Comment ça va? is more informal, because of that pronoun replacement.
Then, an even more informal form is "ça va?", shortened for of "Comment ça va?"
Then "ça va?" can become "ça va bien?, because you take the reply, to turn it as a question (a very informal way to ask question, even in English: it's ok?)
The verb être means to be. In French this, and all other verbs, are conjugated into six different forms for each tense depending on the subject. In English verbs normally have only two conjugations for each tense, but to be has three: I am, you are and he/she/it is.
The French verb être in present tense indicative:
Je suis=I am
Tu es=You are (singular informal form of you)
Il/elle/on est=He/it/she/it/one is
Nous sommes=We are
Vous êtes=You are (singular formal and plural informal/formal form of you)
Ils/elles sont=They are
Since English and French do not conjugate the same way is this a difficult thing to grasp and to remember. A good advice is not to learn the subject and verb form apart ("Je"="I") but as a unit ("Je suis"="I am"). This way you will know when to use which "are" when.
I'm not French, but I've lived and worked in France, and taught English as a foreign language to French speakers - in my opinion that should be allowed. (I'm finding this site very good at brushing up my many spelling errors.)
Technically it is closer to 'how goes it' or 'how are you' than 'are you doing well.' But I have to say, I've heard your version far more often than the other.
It could be that they are trying to teach you a construction in this case, (the inverted verb pronoun as a way of asking a question) which will be useful further down the line, but just so you know - if you said this in France everyone would know you were asking after their well being. Don't be discouraged! Duolingo are very good at enforcing grammar rules without you noticing, and I think that is what has happened here.
Good question. With inflection (going up at the end) it would work perfectly well in colloquial speech (though technically it means 'it goes well.' You would be more correct and better understood, however, if you said something like 'va-tu bien?' or even 'tu va bien?' as a rhetorical question. Duolinguo can't afford to cover every single permutation of an answer though - there can be literally dozens. They're trying to teach the precise grammar. But don't feel bad - as I said, your reply would be understood. (I know that my level isn't reflected on here, but I do speak good French, having lived and worked there three years.)
"ça va bien" (watch your spelling!) The difference between "ça va bien?" as a question, and "ça va bien" as a statement is strictly the context of the conversation and the inflection in your voice. (or if writing, then the question mark at the end of the statement).
For example, if we meet somewhere and I greet you with, "Salut, ça va bien?"... I'm obviously asking you the question. There is no circumstance where I would walk up to you and say "Hi, I am doing well" as a statement unless you had asked me how I was doing first. Once I asked you the question, your reply would like be "Oui, ça va bien" or similar. Obviously, a statement and not a question.