Help with French pronoun Ca Ce?

Question

What is the difference between Ce and Ca in french
Ca Va - it goes. Ce va - it goes ????
also why does the C in Ca have a squiggle under it?

Answer 1

Ce means "this". It is a demonstrative pronoun, so always goes together with a noun.
Cela or ça means "that". It is used on its own without a noun.

You would have to say "ça va", as "ce va" makes no sense, as in "ça va de soi" -- it goes without saying.

The cidilla (or squiggle) is to show that the c is softened, as otherwise it would have to be pronounced like a k.

Answer 2

French inherits pronunciation from Latin.

Most of the time,

C followed by E or I is "soft c" pronounced like s
C followed by A, O or U is "hard c" pronounced like a k

But sometimes C before A,O,or U is in fact soft, so to signal that fact they put the "cédille" (say-dee(yuh) ) mark under the C. We call it in English a cedilla (suh-DILL-uh). Notice in French it's one of those words where a double-l in fact sounds like a light y-sound.

The verb "recevoir" always has a soft-c in all its conjugation forms, so if you use past participle you have to spell it as reçu. (received, or as a noun it means a "receipt". Ruh-Sü').

It is optional to show accents on a capital letter so don't bother.

You can call up this c-cedilla character on an IBM PC from almost all programs by holding down the ALT key and typing in the number keypad "135". This won't work with the top row of number keys, only the keypad. Likewise you can find the codes to type other common accented French letters like ALT-130 for é ).


ça usually means "it" in an impersonal way. çà has a different pronunciation, a deeper vowel, and means "that!" (object, there is no noun after this pronoun). Ce means "this ___" but you're expecting a noun after it.

Ca va aller mal. It will go badly. [Capital letter, no cedilla]
Est-ce que ça va bien? Is it (everything) going well (o.k.)?
Donne-moi çà! Give me that! [cedilla and slightly different vowel sound.]
Je vous donne ce livre. I'm giving you this book. [Sometimes to emphasize it's the book closest to you, you say, "Je vous donne ce livre-ci." Notice, no cedillas!]
Je vous donne ce livre-là. I'm giving you that book.

Answer 3

Pierre's comments are good, but I'm not sure about his use of çà with a grave accent over the 'a' - the only time I've come across accented çà is in the expression çà et là - hither and thither.

Answer 4

all of them recommend "this" or "that". CE = article demonstrative masculine singular. e.g. ce t-shirt, ce cadeau. CET = article demonstrative masculine singular =same as above yet put in front of a noun beginning with a vowel or the letter "h" e.g. cet homme, cet hôtel, cet enfant, cet accessory. CETTE = article demonstrative female singular. e.g. cette fille, cette musique. CES = article demonstrative plural the two female or masculine. e.g. ces musiques, ces enfants, ces t-shirts. ÇA a million. ça = contraction of "cela" (that) or "celle-là" (that one there, female) or "celui-là (that one there, masculine). e.g. Je veux ça-là! i desire that one there ! Ça suffit"! it relatively is it ! I even have it ! it relatively is sufficient! 2. Ça va ? How are you? (colloquial) CELLE = the single (female singular) . it relatively is a pronoun. e.g. Celle qui n'est pas d'accord. the guy who does not agree. additionally : Celle-ci (this one right here) Celle-là (that one there) i'm hoping this helps you.