Learn the key pattern to ask about well-being
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| First is Comment, meaning "how." Comment (enunciated). Comment. |
| Next is ça, "it" ça (enunciated). ça. |
| Finally, va, "goes" va (enunciated). va. |
| Va is from the verb aller, meaning "to go." Aller. |
| All together, it's Comment ça va? This literally means "How it goes?" But it translates as, "How are you?" |
| Comment ça va ? |
| Note the rising intonation of the sentence to mark that it's a question. Comment ça va ? |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how says, |
| "I’m fine, thank you." |
| Ça va bien, merci. |
| "I’m fine, thank you." Ça va bien, merci. |
| First is ça va, literally "It goes." ça va (enunciated). Ça va. |
| Next is the word, bien, meaning "fine” or “well” Bien (enunciated). Bien. |
| Together, it’s “ça va bien”. Literally, "It goes well," but translates as "I’m fine," or "I’m well." ça va bien. |
| Next is, merci, meaning "Thank you." merci (enunciated). merci. |
| All together, it’s Ça va bien, merci. "I’m fine, Thank you." Ça va bien, merci. |
| When using formal French, Comment allez-vous ? "How are you?" Comment allez-vous ? |
| Imagine you’re Sadia Simon, Mark Lee’s French teacher. Use the formal expression for "How are you?" |
| Comment allez-vous ? |
| "How are you?" |
| Comment allez-vous ? |
| This is the most formal and most common expression. It can be used safely with anyone in any situation. |
| An extremely common way to ask about someone’s well being is the phrase: |
| Ça va ? How are you? Ça va ? |
| Ça va ? is a shortened form of Comment ça va ? |
| The usual response to “ça va ?” is “ça va”. |
| Listen to the following exchange: |
| Ça va ? |
| Ça va. Ça va ? |
| Ça va. |
| The intonation makes the difference between the question and the answer. |
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