What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "How did school pass itself?" because it utilizes the reflexive verb se passer.
Which one should you use?
While Comment s'est passée l'école ? is a standard way to ask the question, you can also focus on the specific day by asking Ta journée d'école s'est bien passée ?, which means "Did your school day go well?"
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
In casual conversation with a child, a parent is more likely to use an informal statement-turned-question like Ça s'est bien passé, l'école ? (Did school go well?) rather than the more formal Comment s'est passée l'école ?
How does it change in a sentence?
In the phrase Comment s'est passée l'école ?, the past participle passée ends in e because l'école is a feminine noun and the participle must agree with the subject in this reflexive construction.
When do people say it?
When answering this question, a common response uses the same reflexive verb structure, such as Ça s'est bien passé (It went well) or Ça s'est mal passé (It went badly).
Did you know?
- If you want to ask a teenager about their high school experience, you should avoid the word école and instead use lycée, as using école might make them feel you are treating them like a small child.
- When a student describes a difficult day, they might say C'était la galère, a slang expression meaning 'it was a struggle', which is far more common in spoken French than the formal C'était difficile.
- The word comment is formed by combining comme meaning 'like' with the suffix -ment used in Old French to create adverbs.
Examples in context
- Comment s'est passée ta journée à l'école ?How did your day at school go?
- Comment ça s'est passé à l'école ?How did it go at school?
- T'as passé une bonne journée à l'école ?Did you have a good day at school?
- Ça s'est bien passéIt went well
- Ça s'est mal passéIt went poorly
- Dis-moi, comment s'est passée l'école ?Tell me, how was school?
Example conversation
Nathan greets Léa when she returns home from her classes.
- NathanSalut Léa, comment s'est passée l'école ?Hi Léa, how was school?
- LéaC'était super, j'ai adoré mes cours.It was great, I loved my classes.
- NathanJe suis content pour toi.I am happy for you.
- LéaMerci, Nathan !Thanks, Nathan!
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries comment, CC BY-SA 4.0.
