# How is/was...Past Tense



## Inglip

Just wondering how to say how '*was*' something. For example, *how was the party yesterday?*

I know *maganda ba ang araw mo?* means *Is your day good?* literally, but in English we say, *How is your day?* But how do I ask about something else, for example Church or a party?

This is my attempt:
*
Maganda ba ang party kahapon?* Is the party good yesterday? 
*Maganda ba and sinbahan na gabi?* Is Church good this evening?

Is that how I would say in English, Was the party good yesterday?, or Was Church good this evening?

Not sure how right they are.

Also, what is a generic term used to say *"How was it?" *Used like the following:
Person A: I have just been to see my cousin
Person B: How was it?

Thanks


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## redmanPH

Hey, I'll try my best.

*Maganda ba ANG SIMBAHAN NGAYONG GABI?* where _ngayon_ means now and _gabi_ is night, but taken together obviously means tonight. Other than that, tama ka! 

as for *How was it?*, really simple! Just go,

*Kumusta?* or *'musta? (even more colloquial, abbreviation for "kumusta"*


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## Inglip

Thanks for the help.


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## kaosmax

@Inglip, that's a clever name ... haha ... i guess Phillip should be helping you.

But i digress (pero, i lumihis sa pinag-uusapanpero ?).  I'm wondering why you and redmanPH both use 'maganda ba' rather than just 'paano ay'.

The dintinction of past tense doesn't seem to be made in the verb, but rather in the use of a named time period, so 'Paano ay simbahan ngayon?' can mean 'How was (or is) church today?' and 'Paano ay simbahan kahapon?' means 'How was church yesterday?'


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## Inglip

What do you take Inglip to mean? 

I use *Maganda ba* because before I started learning Tagalog, a Pillipino friend of mine thought me a couple phrases to say to other friends of ours as a joke. "*Mas magandang lalaki ako sayo. Gusto Kitang yakapin pwede ba?*" And only told me what they mean after I said them. After a short while I began asking, well how do I say "How are you?" and I asked, how do I say "How is your day" and they told me, "*Maganda ba ang araw mo?*" This is how I came to know that phrase. After learning a few phrases, I began learning the language correctly and bought some materials to impress a girl lol.


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## redmanPH

kaosmax said:


> @Inglip, that's a clever name ... haha ... i guess Phillip should be helping you.
> 
> But i digress (pero, i lumihis sa pinag-uusapanpero ?).  I'm wondering why you and redmanPH both use 'maganda ba' rather than just 'paano ay'.
> 
> The dintinction of past tense doesn't seem to be made in the verb, but rather in the use of a named time period, so 'Paano ay simbahan ngayon?' can mean 'How was (or is) church today?' and 'Paano ay simbahan kahapon?' means 'How was church yesterday?'



Hi kaosmax, "paano ay" is a transliteration. "Paano" = "How" in a literal, how-do-you-do-something sense (ex. Paano ka pumunta roon? = How did you go there?). Thus, "paano" does not have anything to do with tenses. But you are correct with the use of a named time period as indicator of a tense.

In the OP's sense, he was asking the state of the event (e.g. was it good?). So if you take it literally and translate "How was church today?" into "Paano ang simbahan ngayon?", that would literally look like "How do you church today?" So instead we say, "Maganda ba ang simbahan kahapon?" (Was church good yesterday?), or alternatively, "Maganda ba ang simbahan ngayon?" (Was/Is church good today? <-- Yes, to a native speaker it could mean both tenses)

Or, to put it really literally, "How was church a while ago?", "Kumusta ang simbahan kanina?" To make life easy, think of "kumusta" as the Spanish equivalent of "como estas" lol 

Hope I've helped!


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## Inglip

Thanks for the help guys.


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