Comment ça va ?

How are you doing?

Part of French 1 - A1 | Hello Lesson

How to answer the question ‘How are you?’ in French

‘Comment ça va ?’ or ‘Ça va ?’ are the 2 most common greetings in French. But how do you answer that question?

‘Comment ça va ?’ or ‘Ça va ?’ means ‘How are you doing?’ or ‘What’s up?’. You’d think you’re asking if you’re happy or sad. Well, not quite. It’s just a greeting, you’re not expected to go in depth about how you’re feeling at the time.

There are many ways to answer the question ‘Comment ça va ?’ - How are you?

Here are the most common ones.

1. Ça va, ça va. — Okay okay.
2. Pas mal, et toi ? Et vous ? — Not bad and you ? And you ?
3. Ça va. Ça va bien. — Fine. I’m doing fine.
4. Ça va pas très bien. Pas terrible. Ça va pas terrible. — It’s not going very well. Not great. It’s not great.
5. Ça boume (un peu vieillot) — It’s booming (a bit old-fashioned)
6. Ça va pas. — Not well.
7. Tout doux. — Slowly.
8. Bof. — Blah.
9. Comme-ci, comme ça. — So so.
10. Couci-couça. - So so.

Let’s go deeper

If you want to be more specific, you can use 2 verbs: ALLER - to go - and SE SENTIR - to feel. There’s a slight difference between the 2.

se sentir bien/mal ≠ aller bien/mal

Présent

• Je vais bien. Je vais mal. - I’m doing well. I’m not doing well.
• Je me sens bien. Je me sens mal. - I feel well. I’m not feeling well.

Imparfait

• J’allais bien. J’allais mal. - I was doing well. I wasn’t doing well.
• Je me sentais bien. Je me sentais mal. - I felt well. I didn’t feel well.

Futur

• J’irai bien. J’irai mal. - I’ll be well. I won’t be doing well.
• Je me sentirai bien. Je me sentirai mal. - I’ll feel well. I won’t feel well.

Further your French - Renforcez le Français

French 1 Course

Bonjour – Hello – Part 1 - Bitesize

Greetings Basics - Quiz

sentir and to feel - Today’s French

Saying ‘I hurt’

. Today’s French . Mot du Jour . Tutorials . Newsletter . Memberships . Donate . . Comment or Ask in the box below ↓ . Go to Course - French 1 - A1 . Go to Lesson - Bonjour - Hello .

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS