Three words, three jobs
English splits exclamations into how (How lovely! How well she sings!) and what a (What a house!). Spanish splits them differently, into qué, cuánto and cómo. Which one you take depends on what comes directly after it.
qué — before adjective, adverb and noun
Qué is the most common exclamation. It does the work of both how and what a, and it stands before anything that is not a verb form. Before a noun the article disappears: ¡Qué casa!, not ¡Qué una casa!
¡Qué caro!
How expensive!
adjective
¡Qué bien lo pasamos anoche!
What a good time we had last night!
adverb
¡Qué calor hace hoy!
It's so hot today!
noun
¡Qué pena que no puedas venir!
What a shame you can't come!
noun
To name a thing and rate it, the adjective goes after the noun, joined by más or tan. Both are equivalent, and más does not mean more here. Without a reinforcer the English order works too: ¡Qué bonita casa!
The blueprint
¡Qué casa más bonita!
What a beautiful house!
¡Qué gente tan simpática!
What nice people!
cuánto — quantities and verbs
Cuánto exclaims that there is a lot of something. Unlike English much and many, it agrees with a following noun in gender and number; next to a verb it stays invariable. Next to a verb you can often use cómo as well: ¡Cuánto llueve! and ¡Cómo llueve! are both possible.
The forms of cuánto
| Position | Form | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | cuánto | ¡Cuánto ruido! | What a racket! |
| feminine singular | cuánta | ¡Cuánta paciencia! | So much patience! |
| masculine plural | cuántos | ¡Cuántos años! | How many years! |
| feminine plural | cuántas | ¡Cuántas veces! | How many times! |
| next to a verb | cuánto, invariable | ¡Cuánto me gusta! | How much I love it! |
¡Cuánta gente ha venido!
How many people have come!
¡Cuánto has crecido!
How you've grown!
cómo — before the verb
Cómo stands before a verb and rates how strongly or in what way something happens. English rarely exclaims straight at a verb (Look how it's raining!), so this pattern is easy to under-use. Cómo cannot govern an adjective or a noun.
¡Cómo llueve!
Look how it's raining!
¡Cómo has cambiado!
How you've changed!
¡Cómo me duele la cabeza!
My head is really hurting!
Two further patterns
lo + adjective + que
Like qué, but with a whole clause; the adjective agrees: ¡Lo bonita que es esta ciudad! (How beautiful this city is!)
vaya + noun
Colloquial instead of qué, often ironic: ¡Vaya coche te has comprado! (What a car you've bought yourself!)
Spelling
In an exclamation qué, cuánto and cómo carry an accent; without it they would be que, cuanto and como with other jobs. English has neither accents nor the inverted ¡, but Spanish needs it at the start, just like the inverted question mark.
¡Cómo come!
How he eats!
exclamation
Come como su padre.
He eats like his father.
comparison, not an exclamation
