Learn French: Ça marche, je réserve une table. - That works, I am booking a table.

Ça marche, je réserve une table.

That works, I am booking a table.

Breakdown of Ça marche, je réserve une table.

it works, that's fine (agreeing)

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching French grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning French now

Questions & Answers about Ça marche, je réserve une table.

Doesn't marche mean "walk"? Why does it translate to "works"?

You are right! The verb marcher usually means "to walk". However, French uses it just like the English expression "to work" when talking about plans, ideas, or machines. Saying Ça marche is a very common way to say "That works!" or "Sounds good!"

What does the little hook under the ç in Ça do?

That little hook is called a cedilla. In French, the letter c normally makes a hard "k" sound before the vowels a, o, and u. Adding the cedilla changes it to a soft "s" sound. Because of it, Ça is pronounced like "sa" instead of "ka".

The translation says "I am booking", but there are no words for "am" or "-ing". Why?

French does not have a separate "-ing" tense like English does. The simple present tense covers both versions. So, je réserve means both "I book" and "I am booking". You never need to translate "am" when saying what you are currently doing!

Why is it une table instead of un table?

Every noun in French has a gender. The word table is feminine, so you must use the feminine word for "a", which is une. If you were booking a masculine place, like a restaurant (un restaurant), you would use the masculine word un.