ça roulait and driving

Tom A.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

ça roulait and driving

Does the impersonal expression 'ça roulait très mal' literally mean the traffic was very bad ?

Asked 3 years ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Tom,

In a traffic context such as in this exercise, ‘ça roulait très mal’ means ‘the traffic was awful.’

In everyday life, you might hear this following expression:

ça roule (?) how are things? - All good! - That works for me! (= ça marche)

Here is a link on ça roule / ça marche

And the famous one: ça roule, ma poule ? (how are things?) Or ça roule, ma poule ! (that works for me!) Usually it is used in a light-hearted way although be aware to use it only with people you know very well. I would never use it in a formal situation, even at work (unless you socialise outside of work) !

 

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée! 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The idiom ça roule means something like "OK" or "alright" in a lot of different contexts and connotations. If, at the end of a long drive, you say, ça roulait, it would mean something like "that went ok". Conversely, ça roulait très mal means "that went pretty badly". In a driving situation, it would also apply to the traffic, I presume. But that's not the predominant meaning of it.

The input of a native speaker would shed more light on this.

ça roulait and driving

Does the impersonal expression 'ça roulait très mal' literally mean the traffic was very bad ?

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