The verb marcher- literally to tread, march or walk is normally used to denote anything mechanical 'going'. There is no 'it' in french; all objects have a gender, male or female. You have to learn them all, [PITA], there are few rules, the definite or indefinite articles [ the, an, a, ] are rarely if ever left off a noun, and verbs and adjectives have to agree with the gender of the noun too! So if 'une scie à ruban,[bandsaw][f]' works well, she works well. But a ship, 'un navire [m]', would be il marche bien.
Bien, [ = good, well ], is a useful adverb for tourists and foreigners because it does not have a feminine form to agree with the noun- it's always bien, unlike the adjectives bon/bonne, bel/belle etc..

Pas also means a tread or step as in a staircase. So "it's not working" = il ne marche pas bien, literally, "it goes not a step well". They don't use "is verbing" as a present tense at all. But, it's easier to say c'est en panne and shrug the shoulders if you break down in the car!
French 'easy speech' often uses pas on its own to denote a negative, poor grammar but good French! Pas de problème! = No problem! Pas grave! = No sweat!
But fear not, they know you are English or American before you say a word, [ haircut, clothes, shoes, smell of soap. [Linked Image] ]

Paul:Le Danger? Je m'en fiche!
Danger? I don't give a horse's-doeuvres!

Alan

edit to correct my adverbs and adjectives mixup.




[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 12-30-2006).]

Wood work but can't!