Le repas était très bon
The English phrase "the food was very good" is translated into French as Le repas était très bon.
This phrase is used to express that a meal tasted delicious. You can use Le repas était très bon to refer to the meal as a whole, or La nourriture était très bonne if you want to refer specifically to the food itself. In natural conversation, it is very common to simply say C'était très bon to mean "It was very good."
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase Le repas était très bon literally translates to "The meal was very good".
Which one should you use?
While Le repas était très bon refers to the meal as a whole, La nourriture était très bonne refers specifically to the food itself. For a more natural conversational feel, you might use C'était très bon.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Quebec, you may hear the expression Le repas était ben bon! to mean "The meal was really good!"
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb était is the imperfect tense of être. It is used here to describe a state or quality in the past. Using the imperfect était instead of the passé composé a été focuses on the continuous quality of the meal during the experience rather than a single completed event.
Did you know?
- The word très is a linguistic relative of the English prefix 'trans-', as both originate from the Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'through' or 'across'.
- In French culture, it is common to compliment a host by saying C'était délicieux instead of C'était bon to show a higher level of appreciation for the chef's skill.
- While bon means 'good', using it to describe food focuses on the taste, whereas bien means 'well' or 'good' in a moral or functional sense and is almost never used to describe the flavor of a meal.
Examples in context
- La nourriture était excellente, je me suis régalé!The food was excellent, I really enjoyed it!
- C'est super bon! On s'est régalé, merci beaucoup!It's really good! We feasted, thank you very much!
- Le repas était très bon.The food was very good.
- Je pense que le repas était très bon.I think the food was very good.
- Merci, le repas était très bon !Thank you, the food was very good!
Example conversation
Hugo and Emma are finishing dinner at a restaurant.
- HugoAlors, qu'est-ce que tu as pensé du dîner ?So, what did you think of dinner?
- EmmaLe repas était très bon, j'ai adoré tout.The food was very good, I loved everything.
- HugoJe suis content que ça t'ait plu, Emma.I am glad that you liked it, Emma.
- EmmaC'est vrai, c'était un excellent choix.It's true, it was an excellent choice.
