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Here are some examples of the type of questions I'm thinking of:

  • "How was your meal?" / "How is your meal?"
  • "How was the concert?"
  • "How is your day going?"
  • "How did the meeting go?"
  • "How was your flight?"
  • "How are things going with you?"

You can see there's a mix of general and specific questions, but all of the same general form. I generally resort to ça va bien? for translating these things, relying on the subject being implicit, because I honestly don't know how to phrase it with a subject other than ça.

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  • For the record, it's frustrating as hell being 6 years into serious study of French and still having to ask this.
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:14
  • You can't learn those kind of things in books, you have to practice (or ask here for common usages) ;) Is someone waiting for you to sit or something like that ?
    – Random
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:15
  • A server asked me how to say "How is your meal?" in French and I told her to just say "Ça va bien?" (she had a table of French speakers). Was I right, does that make sense in that context? Or close enough at least?
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:16
  • If you are in a restaurant, you understand what you mean with "Ça va bien?", you guess she won't ask for you daily mood, but for your meal
    – Random
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:30
  • A common sentence heard in restaurants is "Tout se passe bien ?"
    – Laurent S.
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 14:12

1 Answer 1

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+100

Indeed, there are multiple ways to say it :

  • "How was your meal?" / "How is your meal?"

Talking to a friend whom you didn't eat with :

(T'as) bien mangé ?
C'était bien le [nom du restaurant] ?

Talking to a client in a restaurant:

Tout s'est bien passé ? (common)
Comment était [l'entrée / le plat / le dessert / le repas] ?

  • "How was the concert?"

Comment était le concert ?
Le concert était [bien / sympa] ?

  • "How is your day going?"

Comment vas-tu aujourd'hui ?
Comment ça va aujourd'hui ?
Comment se passe ta journée ?
(Est-ce que) tout va bien aujourd'hui ?
(Est-ce que) ta journée se passe bien ?
(Est-ce que) ta journée s'est bien passée ?

Except the first 2 (which are general), those sentences are used when you are talking to someone new in the office for instance, it sounds like you are here to help if needed, you are in a case where the other person may have had a hard day. I don't think you would say that to a friend where nothing particular happened.

Adding "Est-ce que" implies you heard something went wrong, so you are asking him to confirm he is fine (or something like that).

If you want to go deeper in details about those sentences, just ask, we'll think of it :)

  • "How did the meeting go?" / flight / concert

Comment s'est passée la réunion ? (professional)
Comment s'est passé le meeting ? (political)
Comment s'est passé l'entretien ? (hiring)

  • "How was your flight?"

Comment s'est passé ton vol ?
Tu as fait bon [voyage / vol] ?

  • "How are things going with you?"

Comment vont les choses ? (not common)
Comment vont tes affaires ? (professional)
Comment [tu vas / ça va] (en ce moment) ? (common)

  • If your coworker had a problem with his laptop:

(Alors,) comment va ton ordi ? ("ordi" is familar, use "ordinateur" otherwise)
T'as des nouvelles de ton ordi ? (if it is getting repaired by someone else)
Ton ordi(nateur) est réparé ?

For objects, I think there is no difference with persons, you would say the same if you are asking for news about your workmate's child/wife/husband/parent... (except for the last sentence, of course)

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  • Awesome answer. Thank you. I will be committing this to memory, too important / common / useful.
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:36
  • Yes, perfectly so. However, "I have a doubt" is not quite idiomatic, although it is completely understandable / grammatical -- try "I'm doubtful, is..." Generally doubt is not proceeded by a unless it's an expression like shadow of a doubt or without a doubt.
    – temporary_user_name
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:40
  • @Aerovistae Oh, thanks ! In french "J'ai un doute" is very common, good to know ! :)
    – Random
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:48
  • sorry for being pedantic, but I think there's a typo: I would write 'Comment s'est passéE la réunion ?', BTW, I think It's worth stressing that most of your propositions are OK for "casual" talkings (let's say that every body say it like that), but is not really correct french IMHO (for example "Tu as fait bon voyage?" should be "As-tu fais bon voyage ?".
    – OznOg
    Commented Dec 12, 2015 at 16:08
  • @OznOg Indeed, thanks. About "As-tu", it is a bit formal, it is not used much in those cases
    – Random
    Commented Dec 12, 2015 at 23:15

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