How to Say ‘How was it?’ in Japanese
どうでしたか。
dou deshi ta ka
[doo deh-shee ta kah]
💬 Usage Tip: でした is the past form of です, so this asks how something turned out. Drop the past for the present: どうですか "how is it?"
Phrase Breakdown
どう
dou
[doo]
how; in what way
どう asks about manner or method: 'how?' or 'what should one do?'
どういきますか。
How do you go?
でし
deshi
[deh-shee]
was (polite) part
Part of でした, the polite past form of です.
昨日はだめでした。
It was no good yesterday.
た
ta
[ta]
past tense marker
Converts to past tense.
食べた。
I ate.
か
ka
[kah]
question particle
か is placed at the end of a sentence to mark it as a question in polite Japanese.
先生ですか。
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