{"id":20093,"date":"2014-02-27T23:29:13","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T22:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=20093"},"modified":"2017-10-23T11:57:06","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T09:57:06","slug":"french-grammar-ca-alors-how-about-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-grammar-ca-alors-how-about-that\/","title":{"rendered":"French Grammar: \u00c7a alors! (How About That!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s quickly quiz your French grammar: Can you tell what the difference is between\u00a0“<\/em>\u00e7a<\/em>“, “\u00e7\u00e0<\/strong><\/em>“,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0“sa<\/em>“?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“<\/span>\u00c7a<\/strong><\/em>“, “<\/span>\u00e7\u00e0<\/strong><\/em>“, and “<\/span>sa<\/strong><\/em>“:\u00a0<\/span>Just take a look at them. All three\u00a0se prononcent exactement de la\u00a0m\u00eame\u00a0<\/em>fa\u00e7on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(are pronounced exactly the same way.)<\/p>\n

How on Earth then are we to tell them apart—especially if we are to run into them in the middle of a conversation,\u00a0par exemple<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

The answer is in fact quite simple, and holds in one beautiful word: *Contexte<\/em><\/strong>.*<\/em><\/p>\n

It is all about the context of the conversation, indeed.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0First “\u00c7\u00e0<\/strong><\/em><\/em>“, as\u00a0un adverbe\u00a0<\/em>(an adverb):<\/strong><\/h6>\n

As an adverb, it is easy to recognize “\u00e7\u00e0<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em>“, since it invariably occurs in the expression\u00a0“\u00e7\u00e0 et\u00a0l\u00e0<\/strong><\/em>“, meaning “here and there”, and\u00a0can alternatively be expressed by\u00a0“par-ci, par-l\u00e0<\/strong>.<\/em>“<\/strong><\/p>\n

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