ça

ça

1. what

ça

1. to break, split

• çā (NW Gheg)^[1]

Inherited from Latin *ecce hāc. Compare French çà.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈsa]
• Homophone: sa

ça

1. (archaic) here; in this place

• “ça”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “ça”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “ça” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “ça” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): /sa/

  • Audio (France):

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): [sɑ], [sɔ]

  • Audio (Quebec):

    (file)

• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /sa/, /ha/
• Rhymes: -sa, -a
• Homophones: çà, ç'a, sa

Syncopic contraction of cela (“that”), from ce +‎ -là. Compare French ceci (“this”).

ça

1. (informal) that (distal demonstrative pronoun)

   Synonym: cela

   J'aimerais ça. ― I'd like that.

2. (informal) this (proximal demonstrative pronoun)

   Synonym: ceci

   Je veux ça. ― I want this.

3. (impersonal, in some contexts, dialectal, Louisiana) it (dummy pronoun)

   Synonym: il

   Ça va. ― It's okay.

   Ça mouille dehors. ― It's raining outside. (Louisiana)

4. used to indicate actions happening generally without specifying an agent, like on but with a greater suggestion of mass, generalized, unattributable, or confused action; people

   Partout ça criait, ça hurlait, ça se battait. ― There was shouting, screaming, fighting everywhere.

   • 1945, Yves Montand, “Rue Lepic”, in Les Chansons d'Yves Montand:

     Et ça grouille et ça vit dans cette vieille rue d'Paris.

     And people hustle and it is lively in that old Paris street.

5. (Louisiana) he, she, it (third-person singular subject pronoun)
   • 2010, Albert Valdman, Kevin J. Rottet, Barry Jean Ancelet, Richard Guidry, Thomas A. Klingler, Amanda LaFleur, Tamara Lindner, Michael D. Picone, Dominique Ryon, editors, Dictionary of Louisiana French: as Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian communities, page 95:

     Alle est avec eusse asteur parce qu’alle est malade un petit peu. so^[sic] alle couche là. Ça a quatre-vingts-six ans.

     She is with them now because she is a bit sick. So, she sleeps over there. She is eighty-six years old.

   Synonyms: il m or f, alle f — Louisiana

6. (Louisiana) him, her, it (third-person singular object pronoun)

   Synonyms: le m or f, la f, li m — Louisiana

7. (Louisiana) they (third-person plural subject pronoun)

   Synonyms: eusse, eux, eux-autres, ils, on — Louisiana

   Comment ça se dit ça? ― What do they call that?

8. (Louisiana) them (third-person plural object pronoun)

   Synonyms: eusse, eux, eux-autres — Louisiana

9. (Louisiana, interrogative) what

   Ça ina? ― What's the matter?

10. (Louisiana, relative) alternative form of ça que (“that which, what”)

    Un cocodrie mange ça (qu')y veut. ― An alligator eats what it wants.

• Often employed tonically in Louisiana.

• Louisiana Creole: ça, ha

Calque of German Es (“id”), substantivized from the pronoun.

ça m (uncountable)

1. (psychoanalysis) id

• “ça”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• Dictionary of Louisiana French: As Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities (2009; →ISBN; →ISBN)

• çay

From Persian چای (čây), from Sinitic 茶 (chá).

ça (3rd person possessive [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. tea

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “ça”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 306