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What is the capital of Tunisia?

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What is the capital of Tunisia?

“Are you happy?” as a greeting

Your being at a loss for a usable translation, at least in metropolitan French, seems to reflects reality : I’m afraid there is no such formula. There are a few formulas that you might use with people that life has recently treated badly or people who are depressed and as far as inquiring about someone’s state of mind by way of a greeting, it’s the closest to what is concerned by the question.

  • Comment va le moral ? also • Comment ça va le moral ?
    (Apparently, “How is the morale?” is not used in English (ref.1, ref2). In that language it seems that “How have you been feeling lately?” is what comes closest. (see the first ref.))

  • Comment vous sentez-vous aujourd’hui? (English : How are you feeling today?)

You use the first question to show that you are wondering whether the person you’re talking to is in fairly high spirits. They are not under an obligation to answer and they may reply with their own greeting; if you think it important to have an answer, you may politely reiterate the question. Even though it is used as explained above it can also be used in a lighthearted way for greeting anybody you know well enough. This is not true of the second, which is specific to situations referred to in the introduction; this second formula will in fact be often preceded by another greeting and be more of a real question than a greeting.

I don’t know about Canadian French, there might be a possibility in that variant of French.

Not a common one but there is a French expression that can be used a jocular way to greet someone:

Alors, heureux ?

It translates to “So, are you happy ?” and possibly “So, did you enjoy it ?”

While this phrase is technically not that different from the mainstream ça va ?, it can’t really be used without a context and implies familiarity between the parties involved. It might be ironical too, toward someone that has reasons not to be happy.

It is the masculine variant of the well known catchphrase

Alors, heureuse ?

which is mocking the kind of question a macho lover might ask to his partner after doing it.

I suggest “Alors, ça va comme tu veux?”, or “Ca roule?”.
Both questions have a slight problem, in that they could be suggesting a current problem or task that both parties agree on. If not it’s life in general, that is being referred to.

 

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What is the capital of Tunisia?