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Questions & Answers about Ça dépend du contrat.
Why is it ça and not il in Ça dépend du contrat?
In French, ça often means that or it in a very general sense. In Ça dépend du contrat, ça refers to the situation being discussed: that / it depends on the contract.
Using il here would not sound natural. Il usually refers to a specific masculine noun, a male person, or is used in fixed impersonal expressions such as il faut.
So in everyday French:
- Ça dépend. = It depends.
- Ça dépend du contrat. = It depends on the contract.
A more formal version is Cela dépend du contrat.
What verb is dépend, and what form is it?
Dépend is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb dépendre.
So:
- je dépends = I depend
- tu dépends = you depend
- il / elle / ça dépend = he / she / it / that depends
- nous dépendons = we depend
- vous dépendez = you depend
- ils / elles dépendent = they depend
In your sentence, ça is third-person singular, so the verb is dépend.
Why is it du contrat and not de contrat?