Home > French Words > French Idioms > YOU ARE HERE

All about the French sentence "Ça roule"

You are going to learn all the things you need to know about the basic French expression “Ça roule”.

To be clear, this includes a full definition of what it is and how you can use it in everyday life with an audio example. Together with the useful stuff we sprinkled like slow pronunciation audio, dialogue example, synonym and more!

In case you are interested, you can find more of these expressions guides on this page plus the list of all our French words tutorials on this page. Wishing you a good learning!

English translation

Pronunciation example

Slow pronunciation

Normal pronunciation

What does ça roule mean?

Definition

Ça → It/This
Roule → Rolls

“Ça roule” is an informal way to say in French “OK” or “Alright” or “Agreed” depending on context.

How to use

Most of the time, it’s used to say “OK” or “Alright” or “Agreed“. For example, in informal contexts, you can use:

Viens avec moi, s’il te plaît → Come with me, please
Ça roule, j’arrive → Alright / OK, I’m coming

Je t’attendrai dehors → I will wait for you outside
Ça roule → Alright / OK

Tu peux porter ça à ton frère ? → Can you bring that to your brother?
Ça roule → Agreed

Note that you can also use “Ça marche” (It works) exactly the same way, it’s just a bit more formal.

Finally, for formal contexts, it’s better to avoid this expression and use things like “D’accord” (Agreed) or “Avec plaisir” (With pleasure) or simply “Oui” (Yes) instead.

Fun facts

In familiar contexts or as a joke, you can also say “Ça roule ma poule” (It rolls my chicken). But be careful because you are implying that the person you are talking to is a chicken…

Synonyms

Ça marche. (“OK / I agree” → Literally: it works)
D’accord. (“Agreed“)
Je suis d’accord. (“I agree“)
Je suis d’accord avec toi. (“I agree with you“)
J’approuve. (“I approve“)

Example in a story with translation

Now, let’s see a complete example of this expression in a story with slow French audio and the English translation below.

Enfin ensemble

Finally together

___

Ce jour-là, Philippe se réveilla avec un grand sourire, parce qu’aujourd’hui, sa petite amie Emily arrive en France.

That day, Philippe woke up with a big smile, because today his girlfriend Emily arrives in France.

Ils se sont rencontrés il y a six mois à l’université de Nice, où ils étaient étudiants.

They met six months ago at the University of Nice, where they were students.

Mais il ne l’avait pas vu pendant plus d’un mois.

But he had not seen her for more than a month.

Car elle avait décidé de passer du temps avec sa famille en Australie.

Because she decided to spend time with her family in Australia.

Philippe s’habilla, mangea rapidement, se brossa les dents. Puis se rendit à l’aéroport.

Philippe dressed, ate quickly, brushed his teeth. Then went to the airport.