If you want to say “that is”, in French, you say, “ça c’est”. But that means “that it is”, so why don’t we say “ça est”?
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Why don't we say "ça est"?

The word for “that”, in French, is “ça”. The word for “is”, in French, is “est”. But, if you want to say, “that is”, you say, “ça c’est”.

Logically, “ça c’est” means “that it is”, but that’s actually how you say it in French. Logically, “that is” should be “ça est”, but the French don’t like that glottal stop in the middle of the two words.

The phrase “ça c’est” simply flows better and sounds nicer to French ears than “ça est”.


ça c’est – that is (literally: that it is)

This is also the reason why we say “ça ce n’est pas” for “that isn’t” rather than “ça n’est pas”; it just sounds nicer.

ça ce n’est pas – that isn’t (literally: that it isn’t)

The letter C is pronounced like a K when it is followed by either an A, O or a U.

café — coffee (pronounced “kah-feh”)
concombre — cucumber (pronounced “kon-kom-breugh”)
curiosité — curiosity (pronounced “koo-ree-oh-see-teh”)

What does "ça" actually mean?

The word “ça” is the more everyday word for “cela”. Both “ça” and “cela” mean the same thing, and they can be translated as either “that”, “this” or simply “it”. Most of the time, they mean “that”, though.

What does "c'est" actually mean?

The phrase “c’est”, as we learnt in 3 Minute French – Course 1, means “it is”. However, you can also translate it as “that is” or “this is”

c'est bon – it’s good / that is good / this is good
c’est fantastique – it’s fantastic / that is fantastic / this is fantastic

However, most of the time, you can emphasise the “that” by adding the word “ça”

ça c’est bon – that is goodça c’est fantastique – that is fantastic

You could imagine putting a comma after the word “ça”, which you can do, and you get this:


ça, c’est fantastique – that, that’s fantastic

It really emphasises the word “that”

In fact, you can even put the word “ça” on the end of the sentence, too:

c'est bon, ça – it’s good, that / that one is good
c’est fantastique, ça – it’s fantastic, that / that one is fantastic
c’est pour moi, ça – it’s for me, that / that one is for me

You can even say this nice phrase:

c'est ça – that’s it / that’s rightoui, c’est ça – yes, that’s right

That's why

There’s another nice phrase that contains the word “ça” in French, and I first came across it on a French TV show in which Céline Dion was singing with some contestants on a talent show. After one of the performances, Céline was talking to the contestant, and she said:

Une voix extraordinaire. C’est une prestation incroyable et c’est pour ça que tu réussis, c’est pour ça que tu es bonne, c’est pour ça que tu es belle.

The phrase “c’est pour ça que…” means “that’s why…”

What Céline said meant, “An extraordinary voice. It’s an incredible performance and that’s why you’re succeeding, that’s why you’re good, that’s why you’re beautiful."

So, “c’est pour ça que…” means “that’s why…” in French. Literally, it means, “it’s for that that…”, or, you could imagine it akin to the English expression, “it’s for that reason that…”


c’est pour ça que tu es belle – that’s why you’re beautiful (it’s for that reason that you’re beautiful)

Let's practise

Have a go at saying these sentences in French. Any vocabulary you might need is on the "Vocabulary" tab below.
Sentences
Vocabulary
  1. That’s fantastic
  2. That’s good
  3. That’s for me
  4. That isn’t perfect
  5. I like that
  6. That’s why I like the food
  7. That’s why I like that
  8. Yes, that’s right
  9. That isn’t for me
  10. That isn’t for Pierre

fantastic – fantastique
good – bon
for me – pour moi
perfect – parfait
the food – la nourriture
I like – j’aime

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