Yesterday, we saw this convo:

A: 映画はどうだった？
eiga wa dou datta?
How was the movie?
(Literally: "movie + は + how + was?")

B: よかった。
yokatta.
It was good.
(Literally: "was good.")

Today, though, I don't wanna talk about the answer.

Rather, I want to talk about the question!

How to Speak Japanese Like a Boss:
Step #1 - Ask a simple question.
Step #2 - Pretend to understand the answer.

I used to do this all the time.

I still do it in the (thankfully, rare) cases that I can't follow a conversation.

The sweet thing about this language hack is that you can do it from Day One of your studies.

All you need is a super-simple formula, like this one:

A どうだった？
A dou datta?
How was A?
(Literally: "A + how + was?")
(Note: "A" will always be a noun.)

＊＊＊＊＊Side Note＊＊＊＊＊

This is the formal version:

A はどうでしたか？
A wa dou deshita ka?
How was A?
(Literally: "A + は + how + was?")
(Note: It's probably OK to include は in the casual version, too. But I usually hear it being left out.)

But it's sooooo stiff and polite, I never use it.

Then again, I don't work in a Japanese-speaking environment.

＊＊＊＊＊End Note＊＊＊＊＊

So let's take 7 nouns that appear often in "How was [noun]?" constructions:

1. 映画 = eiga = movie
2. 仕事 = shigoto = work
3. 飲み会 = nomikai = (drinking) party
4. デート = deeto = date
5. 学校 = gakkou = school
6. 面接 = mensetsu = interview
7. ご飯 = gohan = food; meal

Now all we do is drop the nouns into our construction:

1. 映画　　どうだった？
2. 仕事　　どうだった？
3. 飲み会　どうだった？
4. デート　 どうだった？
5. 学校　　どうだった？
6. 面接　　どうだった？
7. ご飯　　どうだった？

1. eiga 　　 dou datta?
2. shigoto dou datta?
3. nomikai dou datta?
4. deeto 　 dou datta?
5. gakkou dou datta?
6. mensetsu dou datta?
7. gohan 　　dou datta?

1. How was the movie?
2. How was work?
3. How was the (drinking) party?
4. How was your date?
5. How was school?
6. How was your interview?
7. How was dinner?

(Note for #7: We've seen ご飯 (gohan) before. It could mean "rice." Or "meal." Here I assumed that the "meal" in question is "dinner." It could have been "lunch," too. If the listener were eating right now, we could just say ご飯どう？ [gohan dou?], "How's the food?" or おいしい？[oishii?] "Is it good?")

What about "How was your day??????!!!!!"

I thought you'd never ask.

This is a really common question in English, yeah?

Your loved one gets home from work, or school, or whatever, and you ask:

How was your day (today)?

Based on the info we just saw, we might be tempted to say:

今日どうだった？
kyou dou datta?
How was today?

But the nuance of this is NOT "How was your day?"

Rather, the nuance is, "How did it go today?"

That "it" might be an interview, or a date, or some other important thing that the person asking the question already knows about.

If you try to ask a Japanese person this question without having such a pretext, the conversation will probably go like this:

A: 今日どうだった？
kyou dou datta?
How did it go today?

B: 何が？
nani ga?
How did what go today?
(Literally: "what + が?")

(Note: This is が, the "pointer particle," being used at full power! We are asking A to "point out" what they're asking about. The closest equivalent I could come up with is putting the "what" in italics.)

But what if you just want to casually ask, "How was your day?"

Try this:

今日どんな日だった？
kyou donna hi datta?
How was your day today? // What was today like?
(Literally: "today + what kind of + day + was?")

Nuances, man.

Such a pain to learn.

So awesome to know.

Bonus Phrases

仕事はどうでしたか？
しごと　は　どう　でした　か？
How was work?
Literally: work + は + how + was?

映画どうだった？
えいが　どう　だった？
How was the movie?

仕事どうだった？
しごと　どう　だった？
How was work?

飲み会どうだった？
のみかい　どう　だった？
How was the (drinking) party?

デートどうだった？
デート　どう　だった？
How was your date?

学校どうだった？
がっこう　どう　だった？
How was school?

面接どうだった？
めんせつ　どう　だった？
How was your interview?

ご飯どうだった？
ごはん　どう　だった？
How was dinner?

Note:We've seen ご飯 (gohan) before. It could mean "rice." Or "meal." Here I assumed that the "meal" in question is "dinner." It could have been "lunch," too. If the listener were eating right now, we could just say ご飯どう？ [gohan dou?], "How's the food?" or おいしい？[oishii?] "Is it good?"

ご飯どう？
ごはん　どう？
How's the food?

おいしい？
Is it good?