Un enfant apprend les multiplications en classe

What does “ça fait” mean in French?

French does its arithmetic with faire, not with “to be”: deux fois trois, ça fait six; deux et deux, ça fait quatre. The same verb totals a bill — a baker says ça fait quatre euros vingt, and ça fait combien ? is a natural way to ask for the total. One small phrase therefore covers both a times table and a shop counter.

Ça fait stretches to elapsed time as well: ça fait deux heures qu’on attend is “we’ve been waiting two hours,” and ça fait longtemps ! is what you say to someone you have not seen in a while. Note the structure — ça fait plus the duration plus que, with the verb after it staying in the present.