"What does that represent?"
Translation:Ça représente quoi ?
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ceci = demonstrative pronoun (this): ceci est un chien (this is a dog)
cela = demonstrative pronoun (that): cela me convient (that suits me)
ça = shortened version of "cela" = demonstrative pronoun (that): ça va ? (are you doing fine?)
ce, cet, cette, ces = demonstrative adjectives:
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ce chien = masculine singular
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cet arbre /cet homme = masculine singular, in front of a vowel or a non aspirate H
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cette fille = feminine singular
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ces chiens, ces arbres, ces hommes, ces filles = plural
http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/indefinite-demonstrative-pronoun.htm
Didn't know about ça being a contraction of cela.
cela is also a contraction of ce + là (this there)
ceci is a contraction of ce + ici (this here)
Apparently cela often replaces ceci in actual use. So presumably Ça is used for "ce ici" too?
What about "ces là" and "ces ici" (Those there) and (those here), do they have their own contractions? Also "cette là" and "cette ici"?
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"ça" often replaces cela and ceci as well in speech.
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"j'aime ces fleurs-ci mais je préfère celles-là": this is a typical comparative statement where the English would use "this/these" and "that/those".
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"cette fille-là" or "ces gens-là" can mean you are simply pointing to specific individuals, but it can also mean that your judgement on them is rather negative (if your tone is sarcastic).
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"ces jours-ci" means "nowadays"
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"voici" and "voilà" literally mean "see here" and "see there", respectively. In English: "here is/are".
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I am not sure if anyone tries to explain it below (in which case I might not understand your situation), but I still don't understand why this is not an option. Anyone?
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You could probably say ""qu'est-ce que ça représente?", though. But sitesurf is right, "représente" has to do with appearance, not meaning. Don't confuse English synonyms with French words!
Not french. You can't begin a question whith quoi, you would say "cela représente quoi ?" It's the same meaning. There are few exception, "quoi faire ?" Or "quoi prendre ?" With infinitif verb you can use quoi on the first position. I thing that correspond to "what to do ?" and "what to take ?", this is English sentence ?