During a conversation, someone asked a French equivalent of do you want to try? Does how you’d have asked this question in French resemble the following?
Est-ce que ça te tente d’essayer?
Do you want to try?
That’s how the question was asked, using the verb tenter. Although to want can be said in French using the verb vouloir (e.g., tu veux, you want), it’s frequently said using tenter instead (e.g., ça te tente, you want).
Tenter is cognate with the English verb to tempt. So, if it helps you to analyse this verb, the expression ça te tente is like saying in English it tempts you. Does it tempt you to try? Just understand that the verb tenter translates better here as to want.
Ça me tente. I want to.
Ça me tente pas. I don’t want to.
Ça te tente and ça me tente can contract to ça t’tente and ça m’tente in spoken language, which sound like çat tente and çam tente. Ça m’tente pas!
The speaker asked the question with est-ce que, but don’t forget that yes-no questions are often asked using tu in spoken language:
Ça t’tente-tu d’essayer?
Don’t confuse the tu in that last question with the second-person singular meaning you. Instead, this tu turns a statement (ça t’tente) into a yes-no question (ça t’tente-tu?).
You can hear the question ça t’tente? (but asked without the yes-no tu) here, in the third video.
