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I've run in to many conversations where I was asked something in Japanese: 「お元気ですか」、how my weekend was, what kind of music I like, describing family members, etc. After answering, I have the urge to say "And what about you?" or something similar as I would in English. My mostly uninformed intuition is to either restate the original question (which doesn't seem natural to me), or to say something like 「「name」はどうですか。」.

I'm wondering if there is a common way to ask "How about you?" that has blanket use in most situations, or if such a phrase has to be tailored to what is being discussed. I expect the one used for 「お元気ですか」to probably involve a set phrase that may differ from the rest.

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「○○(さん)は?」「○○(さん)のほうは?」 are some common ways you could say this. However, you can also return the question; as in English, this especially depends on how long the first answer is. As an example, in:

A:「兄弟はいますか?」

B:「残念ながら一人っ子です。Aさんのほうは?

reiterating the question could come off as a bit awkward (but then again, sometimes you hear people do that). However, if B went on and on about how his childhood days were boring because he was the only child, and then decided to ask A, it would make sense to go with something like:

B:「……そして今に至る、と言ったところですかね。」

A:「はぁ……一人っ子は大変ですね。」

B:「ええ、本当にそうなんですよ。 …それで、Aさんのほうは?兄弟はいますか?

Also, you can use Aさんのほうこそ if you want to give the nuance that A's answer is more relevant in one way or another. Kind of like in "Forget about me; what about you?". E.g. (with an informal tone):

A:「ねー、Bってさ、ぶっちゃけさ、彼氏とかいるの?」

B:「あ、うーん……それがさあ、ずっと探してはいるんだけど全然見つからないんだよねえ。Aこそどうなのよ?このタイミングでその話を振ったってことは、まさか……」

A:「ふふーん、実は…」

etc.

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  • additionally, if you forget someone's name is there a less rude way than using あなた to say the same thing? お前 maybe?
    – katatahito
    Commented May 21, 2019 at 23:53
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    @katatahito お前 is considered very informal in modern times. (すみません、)お名前は(なんていいましたっけ)? is one way you could ask someone's name (adding the parts in the brackets when asking for a second time), but if you want to avoid coming off as rude, you may have to go a bit further than that (since you already forgot their name). This should probably be its own question, though.
    – VVayfarer
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 8:14

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