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Marco mi ha chiesto se l'incontro è stato romantico.

Marco mi ha chiesto se l'incontro è stato romantico.
Marco asked me if the meeting was romantic.
From Lesson 215:Reported questions (se)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Marco mi ha chiesto se l'incontro è stato romantico.

How do we know to use se here?
Se means 'if' or 'whether'. When reporting a 'yes/no' question in indirect speech, you use se to connect the two parts of the sentence. Marco's original direct question was likely: L'incontro è stato romantico?
Why didn't the verb tense change when reporting the question in the past?
When the main reporting verb is in the past (mi ha chiesto), formal grammar rules usually require shifting the reported verb further back into the past. However, in everyday Italian, it is very common to simply keep the tense from the original direct question (è stato).
Why doesn't this indirect question use the subjunctive?
Indirect questions can indeed take the subjunctive in formal or written Italian, but using the normal indicative mood (like è stato) is perfectly correct and much more common in everyday spoken Italian.
In English we say 'was romantic', so could I use the imperfetto (era) here instead of è stato?
Yes, both work! È stato treats the meeting as a single, completed event. If you used era romantico, it would focus a bit more on describing the ongoing atmosphere of the meeting while it was happening.
Does incontro mean 'date' here?
It can! Incontro translates directly to 'meeting' or 'encounter', but in a romantic context like this, it often implies a date. Another great word for a romantic date is appuntamento.

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