Que, Comme, Quel: structures exclamatives

French exclamations are built on three small words that English merges into the broader how / what (a) system: que, comme, and quel(le)(s). The grammar is simple — pick the right one based on what follows — but each carries a slightly different feel, and getting the agreements wrong on quel will make your sentence ungrammatical, not just awkward. This page walks through the three patterns one by one, then handles the edge cases and register choices that the overview page didn't have room for.

Que + clause

Que introduces a full clause and translates as how. The clause is typically a copular sentence (subject + être + adjective) or a verb phrase with an adverb.

A few mechanical points. Que elides to qu' before a vowel or mute h, exactly like the conjunction que — qu'il, qu'on, qu'elle. The clause that follows is a normal indicative clause; there is no need for the subjunctive. And the typical written rendering puts a space before the !, in the standard French convention.

Que with verbs and adverbs

Que is not restricted to adjective sentences. It can launch a clause where the surprised element is an adverb — typically of manner or quantity.

In all of these, the focus is on the manner or quantity adverb (bien, peu, vite) — that is what the speaker is reacting to.

Que + ne explétif (formal / literary)

A small wrinkle for very formal or literary registers: que can take an optional ne explétif — the "expletive ne" that has no negative meaning. This is virtually unheard of in modern spoken French but appears in older novels and elevated prose.

You can safely never produce this construction yourself. Recognize it in literature; do not deploy it in conversation, where it would sound bizarre.

Comme + clause

Comme is, for practical purposes, an interchangeable synonym of que in exclamations. The syntax is identical: comme + clause.

So why have two words? The difference is one of register and rhythm, not grammar:

• Comme is the more conversational choice. It feels warmer, slightly more spoken, slightly more emotional. A grandparent looking at a grandchild after a year apart is more likely to say Comme tu as grandi ! than Que tu as grandi !
• Que is more neutral — equally at home in writing and speech, slightly more elliptical, sometimes a touch more emphatic.

In many sentences either word works perfectly and no native speaker will notice the choice. In a few, one fits the moment better than the other. Trust your ear once you've heard enough French.

Comme is exclamation-only here

One useful fact: comme in this position is unambiguously exclamative. Unlike que and quel(le), which are also question words, comme never asks a question. Comme tu es gentil can only ever be how nice you are — never a question. That gives it a slight clarity advantage in writing where punctuation might be ambiguous.

Quel + noun

Quel is a determiner — a word that sits in front of a noun and agrees with it in gender and number. In the exclamative use, it carries the meaning what (a) …!

The four forms

All four forms sound identical in speech (/kɛl/) — the gender and number are visible only in writing. This is a small mercy in conversation and a large trap in dictation and writing exams.

No indefinite article

This is the single biggest English-speaker trap. English requires a/an — what *a beautiful day. French strictly forbids it: *quelle belle journée, never *quelle une belle journée. The quel form is doing the full job of what + a combined.

With plurals and mass nouns the comparison is cleaner because English drops the article anyway: what writers! / quels écrivains !, what courage! / quel courage ! The trap is specifically with singular count nouns.

Adjective placement

The adjective inside the noun phrase follows normal French adjective rules. Short, frequent, subjective adjectives (BAGS — beauty, age, goodness, size: beau, joli, vieux, jeune, bon, mauvais, grand, petit) go before the noun. Most others go after.

You can also stack: Quelle belle journée ensoleillée ! (what a beautiful sunny day!) — belle before, ensoleillée after.

With or without an adjective

The noun does not have to carry an adjective. Quel + noun alone is a perfectly common exclamation, and the noun itself does the evaluative work — usually because it carries an inherent positive or negative charge.

These are some of the highest-frequency exclamations in French — short, punchy, and instantly readable. Quel idiot and quelle catastrophe are everyday speech.

A casual extra: Qu'est-ce que c'est…

In colloquial spoken French, a fourth construction surfaces — qu'est-ce que + clause, often felt as a redundant or emphatic version of que.

Strictly speaking this is a question word being recycled as an exclamative; prescriptive grammars frown on it. In practice every French speaker uses it casually, and it tends to feel even more emphatic than que c'est beau — as if the speaker is loading the sentence with extra weight. Mark it as informal in your mental file: fine in conversation, avoid in writing.

Quick decision guide

When you reach for an exclamation, ask one question: what is the next word?

The boundary is purely grammatical: noun → quel; clause → que or comme. No native speaker would mix these up because the grammatical category of the next word forces the choice.

Common Mistakes

Key takeaways

• Que + clause and Comme + clause both translate how
  • a full sentence. Comme is the warmer, more spoken choice; que is the more neutral and slightly more written one.
• Quel(le)(s) + noun translates what (a). It is a determiner that agrees in gender and number with the noun.
• Never put an indefinite article after quel. Quelle belle journée is correct; *quelle une belle journée is not.
• Que elides to qu' before a vowel or mute h; comme and quel(le)(s) do not elide.
• In casual speech, qu'est-ce que c'est beau ! surfaces as an emphatic alternative — mark it as informal.
• In writing, leave a space before the ! and lean on intonation in speech.