Louis

[winter spoke]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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[white grotto]

Ça + est don't go directly together, it's "c'est"
I'd say you can, depending on the specific wording it may be more/less common, but should theoretically always be quite informal

[crystal thorn]

ngl just added ça + est to cover more unconventional cases just in case since what I heard was ça + verb

but got it, I guess yeah super informal even tho sounds super strange

[digital canyon]

Yeah, it can happen. It's called dislocation where the actual subject is put in this tonic position and the grammatical subject is « ce »

[white grotto]

The second sounds wrong to me, I thiiiink at least in your sentences, if you're saying "c'est" you're referring to the thing in general or a situation involving that thing in general
"Les habitants" is a more specific group so it sounds off to me, unless you're introducing a context where you might be talking more about a situation?
"Chez les habitants, ça fait des bêtises" or something

[digital canyon]

Funnily enough I'm currently listening to a song that has it:

« Je n'entends plus
au fond de moi
que les murmures
Là, dans ma voix
Je n'vous crois plus
Les monstres, ça
n'existe pas

[crystal thorn]

but what it means is that the habitants make stupidities right?

[crystal thorn]

mentissa goat

[white grotto]

Well "do dumb stuff" but yea

[digital canyon]

they're being stupid

[white grotto]

Be silly, etc

[digital canyon]

doing dumb stuff

[crystal thorn]

thanks you two @digital canyon @white grotto

[white grotto]

Yeah, introduces it like a concept
"Les monstres existent pas" could mean "The monsters don't exist" rather than "Monsters don't exist", with "ça" it makes it clear that you're referring to monsters as a concept

[digital canyon]

Right and that's what the song implies

[white grotto]

A fun one I hear a decent bit is "ça [action]?" Incl. "Ça fait quoi?" And similar constructions, where you're referring to a specfic person (or people) doing something, but using "ça" as the subject

In some contexts it can come off rude

But natives throw it around here and there

[crystal thorn]

wait what so the phrase ça fait quoi comes from there?

[white grotto]

It's a bit hard to explain but it's sorta like a dummy pronoun?

[crystal thorn]

att does that means I can just use the same construction for any action? (even tho its very familiar I guess), like my friends are eating something, I can say "ça mange quoi"?

[white grotto]

Maybe not any verb but that works yes!

Again I'd be careful about it since it can come off awkward or rude if you're not familiar with it and use it too much or in the wrong contexts

But if you pay attention you'll probably notice you hear it

Every so often