Translation of Oh! J'ai regardé ça aussi hier.

Karen G.C1Kwiziq community member

Translation of Oh! J'ai regardé ça aussi hier.

Two of the three options for this were "Oh! I watched this one yesterday too" and "Oh!  I watched it yesterday too."  I selected the first option, because "ça" is a demonstrative pronoun, not a personal pronoun.  But the microquiz said that "I watched IT" was the correct selection.  I was happier when I went to an explanation, because there, the translation was "I watched THAT."  Should "ça" ever be translated as "it"?  I'm sure this is nitpicky, but I'm a linguist fluent in Spanish, and the details matter to me! 

Thank you. 

Asked 4 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Ça is a demonstrative pronoun and, therefore, best translated as "that".

Adrian B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I had this question too. I understand that for translating ça, "that" > "this", and "that" > "it". But here you have a choice between "it" and "this", both of which seem possible.

Karen G. asked:

Translation of Oh! J'ai regardé ça aussi hier.

Two of the three options for this were "Oh! I watched this one yesterday too" and "Oh!  I watched it yesterday too."  I selected the first option, because "ça" is a demonstrative pronoun, not a personal pronoun.  But the microquiz said that "I watched IT" was the correct selection.  I was happier when I went to an explanation, because there, the translation was "I watched THAT."  Should "ça" ever be translated as "it"?  I'm sure this is nitpicky, but I'm a linguist fluent in Spanish, and the details matter to me! 

Thank you. 

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
I'll be right with you...