French Expression of the Day: Ça y est!
Because you'll hear this phrase on an almost daily basis in France.
Why do I need to know ça y est?
Because it is one of those expressions that pops up all the time in spoken French, and it sounds deceptively simple.
What does it mean?
Ça y est - roughly pronounced sah-ee-ay - is mostly used to acknowledge either the beginning or end of something, perhaps an activity. You'll often see it written with an exclamation mark because it expresses relief or excitement.
When breaking the phrase down, ça comes from cela meaning 'it', and est is a form of the verb 'to be'. Y would usually refer to a place, but in this instance just acts as a connector between the two other words.
So, literally, it means “it is there," but the words are pronounced altogether.
When used before an event it can help to give a feeling of anticipation. You might hear commentators use it before a sports match or a friend use it before they go on holiday to mean something like “here we are” or “this is it" or "we're off".
Using ça y est at the end of event normally implies a bit of relief that it’s over. You might hear someone use it after they’ve just finished doing something difficult or that took a while meaning “all done!”, “finished!” or "that's it!" or "at last!"
For example you could say "ça y est, j'ai fini" to mean "that's it, I'm finished".
This expression is less used in writing although you might come across it written informally as 'sayez' in a text message.
It can also be used as a question to ask if someone has finished or if they have understood something. So in English it be translated to "got it?"
Use it like this
Ça y est, je suis en vacances ! – That's it. I’m on holiday !
Ça y est. C’est parti. – Here we go. They’re off !
Tu as fini ? Oui, ça y est ! – Have you finished ? Yes, I’m done !
Ça y est, j’ai trouvé mes clés! – I’ve done it, I found my keys !
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Why do I need to know ça y est?
Because it is one of those expressions that pops up all the time in spoken French, and it sounds deceptively simple.
What does it mean?
Ça y est - roughly pronounced sah-ee-ay - is mostly used to acknowledge either the beginning or end of something, perhaps an activity. You'll often see it written with an exclamation mark because it expresses relief or excitement.
When breaking the phrase down, ça comes from cela meaning 'it', and est is a form of the verb 'to be'. Y would usually refer to a place, but in this instance just acts as a connector between the two other words.
So, literally, it means “it is there," but the words are pronounced altogether.
When used before an event it can help to give a feeling of anticipation. You might hear commentators use it before a sports match or a friend use it before they go on holiday to mean something like “here we are” or “this is it" or "we're off".
Using ça y est at the end of event normally implies a bit of relief that it’s over. You might hear someone use it after they’ve just finished doing something difficult or that took a while meaning “all done!”, “finished!” or "that's it!" or "at last!"
For example you could say "ça y est, j'ai fini" to mean "that's it, I'm finished".
This expression is less used in writing although you might come across it written informally as 'sayez' in a text message.
It can also be used as a question to ask if someone has finished or if they have understood something. So in English it be translated to "got it?"
Use it like this
Ça y est, je suis en vacances ! – That's it. I’m on holiday !
Ça y est. C’est parti. – Here we go. They’re off !
Tu as fini ? Oui, ça y est ! – Have you finished ? Yes, I’m done !
Ça y est, j’ai trouvé mes clés! – I’ve done it, I found my keys !
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