French Expression of the Day: Ça te dit

Why do I need to know ça te dit?

Because knowing this informal expression will help you improve your social French.

What does it mean?

Ça te dit - roughly pronounced sah tuh dee - translates precisely as ‘it you say’, which doesn’t really mean anything. 

In practice, it means 'do you feel like it?' or 'do you want to?' Some people might also use it to mean 'what do you think?' 

You'll hear it most often when making social plans or inviting people to get together.

It can be used as a stand-alone phrase - for example on va aller voir un film ce week-end. Ça te dit? (We’re going to see a film this weekend. Want to come?).

You can also use it as the start of a question by adding the preposition de and a verb in the infinitive. For example, Ça te dit de voir un film ce week-end? (Do you feel like seeing a film this weekend?).

One thing to be aware of is that adding quelque chose to the end of this expression changes the meaning completely.

In this case, the question ça te dit quelque chose? means ‘does that mean anything to you?’ or ‘does that ring a bell?’

You might hear this expression used when someone is reminding you of something or somewhere, for example, On est y allé avec Marc en été. Ça te dit quelque chose? (‘We went there in summer with Marc. Does that ring any bells?’).

A good reply could be, oui, ça me dit quelque chose (Yes, that sound familiar) Or, non, ça me dit rien (No, that doesn’t ring any bells.)

Keep in mind that this expression is informal, so if you are looking for a more official way to ask someone if they are interested in doing something, you can say voulez-vous followed by the request.

Use it like this

Ça te dit de manger un morceau ? - Do you feel like grabbing a bite to eat?

Si ça te dit, on peut aller prendre un verre après. - If you feel like it, we can grab a drink afterwards.