com'era?
The English phrase "how was it?" is translated into Italian as com'era?
com'era? is used to ask for someone's opinion or impression of a past experience. Depending on what you want to know, there are other ways to phrase this. For example, use Come l'hai trovato? when asking for an opinion about a specific thing or place or Che impressione ti ha fatto? to ask "What impression did it make on you?"
What does it mean word for word?
com'era? is a contraction of come era? The word come means "how" and era is the third-person singular imperfect tense of the verb essere, which means "to be".
Which one should you use?
While com'era? asks how something was, other phrases change the nuance of the question. Use Com'è andata? to ask "How did it go?", or Come si è svolto? to ask "How did it unfold?" regarding past events. For a more polite approach, you can use Come è andata la sua esperienza? to ask "How did your experience go?"
Did you know?
- When asking com'era?, an Italian speaker might accompany the question with a slight shrug or a raised eyebrow to signal a desire for a detailed critique rather than a simple 'good' or 'bad'.
- The word come is used in both com'era? and com'è andata?, but it can also be used as an interjection meaning 'what?' or 'pardon?' when someone didn't hear a statement.
- While you might expect to use com'era? to ask about a person, using it for a person can sound strangely impersonal or even objectifying. It is much more natural to use Com'era? for a movie or a meal, but use Com'è andata? if you are asking how a date with someone went.
Example conversation
Alessandro and Chiara are talking about a concert Chiara attended.
- AlessandroCiao Chiara, hai visto il concerto ieri?Hi Chiara, did you see the concert yesterday?
- ChiaraSì, sono andata con i miei amici.Yes, I went with my friends.
- AlessandroDavvero? Com'era?Really? How was it?
- ChiaraEra fantastico, mi sono divertita molto!It was fantastic, I had a lot of fun!
