Chapter 9.2 ce, cela ca

Salut tout le monde, 

I feel a bit unsure about the use of ce, cela, ca 

In chapter 9.2 we have the sentence “cela fait plus d'une heure…” and I keep wanting to say “ca fait” or “ce fait”. 

When do I use which and in howfar are they interchangeable? 

Il faut de l'aide! Merci beaucoup!

Desiree

Bonjour Desi2020,

 These are called indefinite demonstrative pronouns and by definition (indefinite) they tend to represent more abstract situations or concepts. There are four of them: ce, ceci, cela and ça.

1. Ce: can mean it, this, that, these or those. It is usually used with être, for example: “C'est le moment ou jamais!” (it's now or never!) or, “Ce sont mes couleurs préférées.” (These are my favourite colours.)
2. Ceci & cela: mean this and that respectively. Ceci = ce + ici (i.e. this here) and cela = ce + là (i.e. that there). They are used as direct and indirect objects. So, in lesson 4.4 "Je prendrai cela" means more ‘I will have that there’ - gender not involved because ceci is usually replaced by cela UNLESS the disctinction between ‘this’ and ‘that’ is really important. Ceci and cela are used in writing and formal speech, otherwise we replace both of them with:
3. Ça: is a contraction of cela.

I hope this clears things up for you.

   -   Mitchell

That was incredibly helpful! Merci beaucoup!

Desiree