Ça va literally means "It's going" or "How is it going?". However, it's used more often than you would expect. It's used as a greeting much as we'd say "How are you doing?". And it's also used to reply - "Fine, OK".

Here are some examples showing some of its many uses - alone and as part of a longer phrase:

Voilà! You hear it all the time. A word of many uses, it roughly translates as "Here is... ", "Here are ...", "This is ...", "These are ..." You use voilà when you hand your boat papers to the customs official or you introduce your wife or husband to someone.

But French people also use voilà to confirm and emphasize as the last examples show.

Voici is a synonym.

Sympa is short for sympatique and means nice, likeable, pleasant.

Sympa can be used to refer to a person, a party, even a price that you like.

The French value a “sympa” attitude. Suddenly doors may open and the impossible may become possible if you are seen as sympa rather than as rude and abrupt.

L’apéritif is the glass of alcoholic drink over which one relaxes in the company of family members, friends, colleagues or people one has just met, before a meal.

Typically you might get together for l'apéritif before lunch (around 12:00) or dinner (around 19:00). You might spend anywhere from a half hour to 3 hours.

L'apéro is slang for l'apéritif.

La baguette is the most popular bread in France.

It is eaten at breakfast as tartine beurrée (butter bread) or à la confiture (with jam). It must be on the table at lunch and dinner. It is loved for sandwiches: un jambon-beurre is a ham sandwich made with a baguette.

The baguette does not keep. It becomes hard (dure) after a few hours. The baker (le boulanger) makes several batches (fournées) of baguettes a day.

Le mouillage means the anchorage. You will often find a restaurant named Le Mouillage (The Anchorage) right on the waterfront. It also means the act of anchoring or your anchoring gear (chain, rode, etc.).

It is used for the depth of the water in inland waters

The verb mouiller means to anchor or to get something wet. Ancrer also means to anchor but is used a little less than mouiller.

La plaisance is pleasure or recreational boating.

You may dock your boat at a port de plaisance (pleasure boat harbor or marina). Your boat may be referred to as a bateau de plaisance (pleasure boat) to distinguish it from commercial or fishing vessels.

Un plaisancier is a pleasure boater. It refers to both weekend sailors and cruisers or yachtsmen. So we cruisers are plaisanciers, although this word is more formal sounding than "yachtie" and not so widely used among cruisers to refer to themselves.

When you need a general-purpose hardware store, look for the bricolage sign. Bricolage means do-it-yourself repairs and is often used to refer to hardware stores.

A magasin de bricolage is a hardware store and a rayon de bricolage is the hardware department in a store. A quincaillerie is also a hardware store. Marine hardware stores on the other hand are usually called shipchandlers (obviously borrowing the word from the English).

Un bricoleur is a person who is capable of doing his own repairs. Thus a cruiser who is good at fixing things is un bon bricoleur. The verb bricoler means to fix something yourself or to do your own repairs.