Emotions in French: ça va, feelings and agreement

Asking and answering “How are you?”

• Ça va ?: How are things? (informal, the most common)
• Comment ça va ?: How’s it going?
• Comment vas-tu ? or Tu vas bien ?: How are you? (to a friend)
• Comment allez-vous ?: How are you? (formal, or to several people)

The answers form a scale:

• Ça va très bien !: very well
• Ça va bien. or Je vais bien.: fine
• Pas mal.: not bad
• Bof. or Comme ci, comme ça.: so-so
• Pas terrible.: not great
• Ça ne va pas.: I’m not OK (informally, ça va pas)

Then: Et toi ? or Et vous ? As with “How are you?” in English, Ça va ? is often just a greeting, and the expected answer is Ça va, et toi ?

Adjectives of feeling

The last column shows whether you can hear the difference between the masculine and feminine. This matters: in speech, pupils often cannot tell whether an adjective has agreed.

Pronunciation: the eu of heureux and nerveux is the vowel of British “fur” with rounded lips. In content, the masculine ends on a nasal vowel; the feminine contente ends with a clear t. The same happens with surpris and surprise (a z sound at the end).

Agreement rules

1. Most adjectives add -e. content, contente; fatigué, fatiguée. Sometimes you hear it, sometimes you only see it.
2. Some endings change. -eux becomes -euse (heureuse), -oux becomes -ouse (jalouse), -et becomes -ète (inquiète), -er becomes -ère (fière).
3. Adjectives ending in -e don’t change. triste, calme, malade, timide. En colère doesn’t change either.
4. Plurals add -s, except after -x: contents, fatiguées, but heureux, jaloux. A mixed group takes the masculine: Nous sommes contents.
5. Vous agrees with the real person. To one woman, formally: Vous êtes fatiguée, madame ?

Être, avoir and se sentir

Most feelings take être. But several common ones use avoir + noun, where English uses “be”:

• j’ai peur: I’m scared
• j’ai honte: I’m ashamed
• j’ai faim, j’ai soif, j’ai sommeil: I’m hungry, thirsty, sleepy
• j’ai chaud, j’ai froid: I’m hot, cold
• j’ai hâte: I can’t wait
• j’ai le trac: I’ve got stage fright

Others use se sentir: je me sens seul, je me sens mieux. And “I’m bored” is a reflexive verb: je m’ennuie. Mood is être de bonne humeur or de mauvaise humeur (to be in a good or bad mood); humeur is feminine, so the adjective is always bonne, whoever is speaking.

Je suis contente parce que c’est vendredi.I’m happy because it’s Friday. (said by a girl)

Mon frère est en colère contre moi.My brother is angry with me.

Je m’ennuie en maths.I’m bored in maths.

J’ai peur des araignées.I’m scared of spiders.

Watch out for false friends. Je suis excité(e) can sound sexual, or mean “hyper”: for “I’m excited”, teach j’ai hâte, je suis impatient(e) or je suis ravi(e). Je suis ennuyé(e) means “I’m bothered”, not bored, and je suis ennuyeux means “I’m boring”. Énervé means annoyed, not nervous.

Informal and regional: j’en ai marre (I’m fed up) is heard everywhere; in Quebec, “fed up” is often je suis tanné(e).

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• “Je suis bien” for “I’m fine”: it means “I’m comfortable”. Use ça va bien or je vais bien.
• “Je suis bon” for “I’m good”: wrong in this sense. Again, ça va bien.
• Être instead of avoir: “je suis peur”, “je suis faim”.
• Forgotten agreement: a girl writing “je suis fatigué”, or saying “je suis content” without the t.
• “Comment es-tu ?”: this means “What are you like?”, not “How are you?”
• “Je suis ennuyé” for “I’m bored”: use je m’ennuie.

In class: a feelings check-in

A daily check-in recycles être, avoir and agreement in one minute, and gives pupils language they actually want to use.

1. Show a face on the board, for example a proud-looking face.
2. Ask Comment il se sent ? or Comment elle se sent ?
3. The class answers: Il est fier. or Elle est fière.
4. Reveal both forms, masculine and feminine. Pick pairs with an audible difference (content, contente) to train the ear.
5. Turn it round: Et toi, ça va ? A few pupils answer with the right ending and a reason.

This is exactly what a daily routine does: the same structure every day, with enough variety to stay interesting.

Remember that feelings are personal. Always allow a neutral answer, and never press a pupil to share their real mood.

Other activities: emotion mime, “how would you feel if…” cards (Si je perds mon portable, je suis…), and listening games where pupils decide whether the speaker is a boy or a girl from heureux or heureuse.

Adapting to your class

• A1One phrase: Ça va bien. Je suis fatigué(e).
• A2Add a reason: Je suis content(e) parce qu’il fait beau.
• B1Past and change: Hier, j’étais stressé(e), mais aujourd’hui je suis calme.
• B2Feelings with the subjunctive: Je suis content(e) que tu sois là. J’ai peur qu’il pleuve.

At KS2, faces and ça va are enough. At KS3, work on agreement and the avoir expressions. At GCSE, feelings are part of every theme: Je suis stressé(e) à cause des examens.

Frequently asked questions