# ça va ?



## ThomasK

I think there are a lot of languages where one uses 'to go' or 'to run' - so a verb of going/ walking - when asking about how things are going, often beginning with a neutral pronoun. 

English: 
How are things going ? (correct, I hope)
... ??? 

Dutch : 
Hoe gaat het ? 
Verloopt alles naar wens ? (Does everything [prefix +] 'run' according to your wishes ?)
[Dialect] Marcheert het een beetje ? 

French: 
Ca va, but NOT ça marche [I was told afterwards], when talking about how people are. Any others ? 

German: 
Geht es ? 
Wie läuft alles ? (how does everything run)

Does your language have even more imagination?


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:
Como andam as coisas? (lit. How do things go/walk?)


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## Rallino

In Turkish:

Nasıl gidiyor? - _How is it going?_


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## ThomasK

Thanks, so no running. Would you use 'run' in for example: 'the programme runs like this' ?


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## ThomasK

Rallino said:


> In Turkish:
> 
> Nasıl gidiyor? - _How is it going?_


Could you specify the kind of going ? Is it walking or very general? And could you say: 'the programme runs like this'? (Thanks, Rallino)


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## Rallino

ThomasK said:


> Could you specify the kind of going ? Is it walking or very general? And could you say: 'the programme runs like this'? (Thanks, Rallino)



Hmm no it's just plain "going". Like when you "go" to school.

When asking how someone's buisiness is going, we sometimes ask:

İşler iyi yürüyor mu? - _Are the businesses walking well?_


For the pc programmes, we say: Program çalışıyor - _Programme is working_

Nothing _runs_ here.


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## ThomasK

But then, last question: the going is some kind of walking then, is it ? Thnaks !


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## Rallino

ThomasK said:


> But then, last question: the going is some kind of walking then, is it ? Thnaks !



Humm...I don't follow you 

In the question "Nasıl gidiyor?", it's the verb "to go", and really it doesn't specifically tell us "walking", it's just "going", either by a truck, or by a limo, or by a jet. I mean, don't think that we use "going", but there should be a "walking" in the subtext. There really isn't. =)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Πώς πάνε* τα πράγματα;»
pos 'pane ta 'praɣmata?
lit. "how are things going/do things go?"
or
«Πώς πας*;»
pos pas?
lit. "how are you going/do you go?"

*Verb «πάω» ('pao) from the Classical «ὑπάγω» (hŭ'pagō); compound formed with the joining together of the preposition and adverb «ὑπὸ» (hū'pŏ)-->_under_ + verb «ἄγω» ('agō)-->_lead, carry, fetch, bring, lead on, guide, manage_. «Ὑπάγω» lit. means _to bring under one's power_ metaph. _to go, go away, withdraw, retire_. In Byzantine Greek, the initial vowel was omitted «(ὑ)πάγω» (a common phenomenon in Greek; many archaic/classical words begining with unstressed initial vowel, in Byzantine Greek appear with the said vowel omitted). In Modern Greek the weak consonant (gamma) between two vowels is omitted also «(υ)πά(γ)ω». The Modern Greek meaning of the word «ὑπάγω/πάω» (to go, go away) appears already in Koine Greek (John 16:5 «ποῦ ὑπάγεις;», "where are you going/do you go?")


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## ThomasK

Rallino said:


> Humm...I don't follow you
> 
> In the question "Nasıl gidiyor?", it's the verb "to go", and really it doesn't specifically tell us "walking", it's just "going", either by a truck, or by a limo, or by a jet. I mean, don't think that we use "going", but there should be a "walking" in the subtext. There really isn't. =)


Now I understand better, Rallino, thanks! So the going implied here is something like moving oneself. We can use go in that sense too, but our 'gaan' in Dutch first means walking. That is why I got confused !


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## ThomasK

I just got some a correction about French, and an interesting addition:



> *"ça marche" = oNLY "Is it working ?"*, talking about a device for instance. (ex: quelqu'un m'installe un programme sur l'ordi et je demande : "Alors, ça marche ?")
> 
> On the other hand, you can use (colloquial):
> "*Ça roule ?*" (sometimes followed by "ma poule", but it's a bit dated).
> (also note that you can "faire marcher quelqu'un" = "pull sb's leg")


 

So I apologize for mixing up things and I thank my prudential source ;-) for the information.


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## hui

*Finnish* for *ça va?*:


_Miten menee?_ "How [is it] going?"
_Kuinka hurisee? _"How [is it] humming / whirring?"
_Kuis pyyhkii?_ "How [is it] sweeping?"
_Mitä kuuluu? _"What [is] being heard?"


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## ThomasK

Could it be that Finland is a windy country? ;-)Do _hurisee_ and _pyykii_ refer to the wind blowing ?


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## hui

> Coyuld it be that Finland is a windy country? ;-)Do _hurisee_ and _pyykii_ refer to the wind blowing ?


Finland is not a windy country.

I had not though about it, but _hurista _and _pyyhkiä_ can both refer to moving fast... now what would be a suitable verb in English... oh yes, that's it: *run *- or perhaps fly, dash, race, speed, ...


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## Favara

Catalan
Com *va* la cosa? _How's the thing going?
_Com *va* tot? _How's everything going?
_Com *va *això? _How's that going?_

Verb _anar_ = "to go".
We don't use _marxar_ or any other verb related to "walking" in this case.


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## Montesacro

In Italian:
_Come va_?                (lit. How does it go?)
_Come vanno le cose_? (lit. How do things go?)


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## Stéphane89

ThomasK said:


> French:
> Ca va, but NOT ça marche [I was told afterwards], when talking about how people are.


 


> *"ça marche" = oNLY "Is it working ?"*, talking about a device for instance. (ex: quelqu'un m'installe un programme sur l'ordi et je demande : "Alors, ça marche ?")
> 
> On the other hand, you can use (colloquial):
> "*Ça roule ?*" (sometimes followed by "ma poule", but it's a bit dated).
> (also note that you can "faire marcher quelqu'un" = "pull sb's leg")


 
Actually you can use "ça marche" to ask how someone is. For example you meet somebody in the street and ask *"Alors, ça marche pour toi ?"* But it's still colloquial.


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## jazyk

In Portuguese also _Como vai(s)? _(lit. How [do] [you] go?)


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## ThomasK

Can you use - in Portuguese or in another language - a verb like _roll_, or _run_ or something the like? Something like: _are things rolling well_ ?


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## Montesacro

ThomasK said:


> Can you use - in Portuguese or in another language - a verb like _roll_, or _run_ or something the like? Something like: _are things rolling well_ ?



Mmh... not in Italian.


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## jazyk

> Can you use - in Portuguese or in another language - a verb like _roll_, or _run_ or something the like? Something like: _are things rolling well_ ?


Not as far as I know or not as far as I remember.


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## Outsider

In Portuguese you can also ask:

*Como vai isso?* (How's it going?)
*Como estão a correr as coisas?* (How are things running?)

I've even read *Isso vai?*, though this may be a calque from French.


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## rusita preciosa

Ryussian:
как [идут] дела? /kak idut dela/ - how [go] affairs/things?
The verb is omitted 99% of the times, so literally it would be *"how affairs?"*


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## ThomasK

I would just like to know, Rusita: is that the 'normal' going, walking, let's say, the same verb as in 'I go to the station'? (Thanks)


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## rusita preciosa

ThomasK said:


> I would just like to know, Rusita: is that the 'normal' going, walking, let's say, the same verb as in 'I go to the station'? (Thanks)


Yes, it is the same as "walking" (in Russian there is no generic "go" - there are different verbs for walking, riding/driving, sailing, flying etc...)


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## sakvaka

hui said:


> *Finnish* for *ça va?*:
> 
> 
> _Miten menee?_ "How [is it] going?"
> _Kuinka hurisee? _"How [is it] humming / whirring?"
> _Kuis pyyhkii?_ "How [is it] sweeping?"
> _Mitä kuuluu? _"What [is] being heard?"



I have to add that except the last one, these are informal ways of asking _ça va?_


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## Tjahzi

In *Swedish*, things _go _aswell. _

Hur går det? -_ How goes it?

However, I have the feeling that this question is most often used when referring to a specific task or issue rather than in general. A sense of something that is somewhat problematic or troublesome that one hopes to improve or solve. Such as (literal translation in parenthesis) :

_Hur går det med/på jobbet?_ - How is work doing?, How are you doing at work? (How goes it with/at work?)

_Hur går det med förkylningen?_ _Fortfarande sjuk?_ - How is your cold doing? Is the cold any better? Still sick? (How goes it with cold-the? Still sick?)

Hur går det för ditt fotbollslag? - How is your football team doing? (How goes it for your football-team?)

Do note however, that this latter half is my own observation/usage. We'll have to wait for other Swedes to confirm or deny it. Though, this is beyond your question and the simple answer would be that yes, _to go_ is indeed being used in the same way in Swedish as in virtually any other language (it seems), to some extent.


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## apmoy70

ThomasK said:


> Can you use - in Portuguese or in another language - a verb like _roll_, or _run_ or something the like? Something like: _are things rolling well_ ?


Not in Greek. Some very-very colloquial expressions do use _run_ (i.e. «τρέχει την επιχείρηση», 'treçi tin epi'çirisi-->he/she runs/is running the company) but as I've said earlier it's considered an anglicism, very colloquial language and is avoided.


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## Outsider

Tjahzi said:


> However, I have the feeling that this question is most *often used when referring to a specific task or issue* rather than in general. A sense of *something that is somewhat problematic or troublesome that one hopes to improve or solve*. Such as (literal translation in parenthesis) :
> 
> _Hur går det med/på jobbet?_ - How is work doing?, How are you doing at work? (How goes it with/at work?)
> 
> _Hur går det med förkylningen?_ _Fortfarande sjuk?_ - How is your cold doing? Is the cold any better? Still sick? (How goes it with cold-the? Still sick?)
> 
> Hur går det för ditt fotbollslag? - How is your football team doing? (How goes it for your football-team?)
> 
> Do note however, that this latter half is my own observation/usage.


I would say exactly the same regarding the expressions with "go" and "run" in Portuguese. 

The most neutral ways to ask _Ça va ?_ use the verb "to be" (_estar_) instead.


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## Encolpius

I think we have a very unique one in colloquial *Hungarian *--- Hogy ityeg a fityeg?  [don't ask me to translate it] // How's it hanging?//


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## 810senior

In Japanese we don't use go or run as the above meaning and say instead like this.

元気？genki
Fine?

元気にしてた？genki ni shiteta?
Have you done fine things?

最近どう？saikin dou
How about you these days?

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We use the noun 元気_genki _meaning the status of doing fine, energy. it can be accompanied by the verb _suru_(to do) like genki *ni *suru, -siteru, -siteta etc. (ni is a particle for the indirect object)
Sometimes we say _genki shiteta?_ by leaving _ni _out, which is more colloquial.

I suppose this expression is similar to the English one like I'm *doing* fine.


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