Are you ready to find out everything you have to know about the funny French sentence "Comme-ci, comme-ça"? To be clear, this includes a detailed definition of what it is and how to use it in a casual conversation with an audio example. But that's not all, we also added super useful stuff like slow pronunciation audio, synonyms, dialogue example and more!
Translation : So-so
Register : Informal - Funny
Slow
Normal
IPA : / kɔmsi, kɔmsa /
The literal meaning is:
It's basically a funny way for French people to say "So-so", very similar to another French expression with the same meaning "Couci-couça".
It's useful when someone asks for your opinion, but you don't have a firm point of view on the topic. When you can't (or don't want to) decide between "It's lame" and " It's amazing". It's a very neutral answer.
For example, you are asked: "Tu aimes ma nouvelle coiffure ?" (Do you like my new haircut?) but you have mixed feelings about it, then you can say: "Comme-ci comme-ça" (So-so).
Where is this coming from? To find the answer, we need to travel to... Italy!
In Italian: "Così così" means "So-so", then French people started to use something similar: "Couci-couci", which became with time: "Couci-couça". That's already far-fetched, right? But wait! That's not over!
"Couci-couça" is an expression made of words that doesn't exist in French ("Couci" and "Couça"). But it does sound a lot like words we actually use... Comme... ci... comme... ça !
Boom. This is how you create an expression!
N.B. Nowadays, you can still use "Couci-couça" but "Couci-couci" disappeared.
Dialogue
J'ai regardé ce film dont tout le monde parle
I watched this movie everybody is talking about
Alors, c'est rigolo ?
So, is it funny?
Comme ci, comme ça
So-so
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