Answers
May 01, 2014 - 06:53 PM
ça is the contraction of cela or ceci. Those are demonstratives and are directly refering to the object, as opposed to "la voir" which is indirect. Because "ça" is direct it is placed after the verb, like a direct object. So you have direct object vs indirect vs direct demonstrative:je mange le plat, je le mange, je mange ça. Hope this helps!
May 02, 2014 - 11:15 AM
Thanks Fabrice for that, I always wondered where ça came from. But in "ça va" is it not the subject? The grammatical issues with "ce" and "ça" are not that well explained in Fluenz. I found this web site useful: http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/... It says that "ce" is mainly used with "etre" which fits with my experience, and "cela" or "ça" for other uses where the indefinite "it" is implied.
May 02, 2014 - 04:01 PM
@James you're right, in your case, ça is the subject, not the object, and usually the object is after the verb and the subject before the verb.