My friend has returned from vacation. How can I ask her "How did it go?"
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The english version would be "How did it go?". If you use an imperfect tense, it tells the listener that the event is not over, or you're interested something else happening at the same time.– Andrew LewisAug 7, 2013 at 14:45
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1Thanks @Andrew! This probably means that all the answers were actually answering something different from what I actually meant!– TomasAug 7, 2013 at 14:55
4 Answers
In French, when it's related to something particular, you can say:
Comment se sont passées tes vacances ?
Comment étaient tes vacances ?
If you don't want express something in particular, you can say:
Comment ça a été ?
Comment c'était ?
Comment ça s'est passé ?
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Thanks. But what if I want more general "How was it going" phrase, not related to vacations in particular? Should I say the 2nd option: "Comment c'était?"– TomasAug 7, 2013 at 10:22
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"How was ... going" et "Comment se sont passées ..." sont infiniment proches.– ShlubluAug 7, 2013 at 11:30
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@Zistoloen No, you didn't. I was responding to Tomas, but forgot to do it in English.– ShlubluAug 7, 2013 at 11:55
We also say:
- Alors, comment ça s'est passé ?
- Alors, (est-ce que) c'était bien ? (ou beau, sympa, reposant ou tout autre qualificatif approprié)
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Sorry, according to Andrew's comment I had to rephrase the English question to past tense. Maybe this changes your answer also?– TomasAug 7, 2013 at 14:52
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@Tomas It doesn't acually. "How did it go" is even closer to "Comment ça s'est passé" than the initial proposal.– ShlubluAug 7, 2013 at 14:54
You could say:
- Comment tes vacances se sont-elles passées ?
- Comment se sont passées tes vacances ?
- Comment étaient tes vacances ? (moins formel)
However I would normally use a different question for this kind of small talk:
- As-tu passé de bonnes vacances ?
It's quite common just to hear
ça a été ?
for "how did it go?" (This is closer to "did it go well?" in terms of meaning, but sociologically it plays the same role as "how did it go?" in that it invites the listener to recount what happened.)