Exclamative Structures (Ce..., Cât de..., Ce de...)

An exclamation isn't just an interjection — it's often a whole sentence shaped to broadcast strong feeling: "How beautiful!", "What a day!", "What a crowd!" English uses two different words for this — how before an adjective ("how lovely") and what (a) before a noun ("what a day") — and they don't mix. Romanian simplifies the whole thing: the one word ce does both jobs. Ce frumos! = "How beautiful!"; Ce zi! = "What a day!" Alongside ce sit two more patterns: cât de + adjective ("how... / so...") for a more measured exclamation, and ce de + noun for exclaiming specifically about quantity ("what a lot of..."). The trap waiting for English speakers is reaching for cum ("how?") — but cum asks a question; it does not build an exclamation. This page covers the syntax of exclamative sentences; for the degree/quantity intensifier grammar behind them (atât de, atâta), see degree exclamatives and intensity.

Ce + adjective/adverb: "How...!"

Put ce straight before an adjective or adverb and you get the "How (adjective)!" exclamation. The word being exclaimed over comes right after ce.

This includes exclaiming over a quality of a person — and Romanian is happy to do it bluntly:

Ce + noun: "What (a)...!"

Put ce before a noun (with or without an adjective) and you get the "What (a) (noun)!" exclamation. Romanian needs no article here — Ce zi!, not "ce o zi" — which is one less thing to manage than English "what a day."

Cât de + adjective/adverb: "How...! / So...!"

Cât de + adjective/adverb is a second, slightly more emphatic and measured way to say "how...!" — it leans toward "(just) how... / so...", foregrounding the degree of the quality. Where ce frumos! is a spontaneous burst, cât de frumos! feels a touch more deliberate, as if you're marvelling at the extent of it. It's also the natural form when the exclamation continues into a clause.

Note the contrast: ce + adjective is the quick everyday exclamation; cât de + adjective stresses the degree and is common when the sentence runs on ("...how much I missed you").

Ce de + noun: "What a lot of...!" (quantity)

When the exclamation is specifically about how much / how many, Romanian uses ce de + noun — "what a lot of...!", "so many...!" The added de is the quantity marker. Ce de lume! = "What a crowd!"; Ce de oameni! = "So many people!" This is the place where ce shifts from "what (a kind of)" to a pure count of abundance.

The difference between Ce oameni! and Ce de oameni! is real and worth feeling: Ce oameni! exclaims about what kind of people ("what (sort of) people!"), while Ce de oameni! exclaims about how many ("what a lot of people!"). The little de flips the meaning from quality to quantity. (The degree/quantity machinery behind this — atâta, atâția — is laid out fully on degree exclamatives.)

Intonation-only exclamatives

You don't always need a special word. Any plain statement becomes an exclamation purely through intonation (and an exclamation mark in writing). The word order stays declarative; the feeling is carried by the voice — a rise-then-emphatic-fall, often with stress on the key word.

Common Mistakes

Using cum ("how?") to build an exclamation — the single biggest error here. Cum asks a question; it does not exclaim:

Inserting an article after exclamative ce, calquing English "what a...":

Dropping de in the quantity exclamative, so the meaning shifts from "how many" to "what kind":

Adding de after ce before an adjective, where plain ce is correct (the de belongs to the quantity-with-a-noun pattern only):

Key Takeaways

• ce is the all-purpose exclamative: ce + adjective/adverb = "How...!" (Ce frumos!), ce + noun = "What (a)...!" (Ce zi!) — English splits these into "how" and "what a," but Romanian uses one word.
• After exclamative ce before a noun, use no article (Ce zi!, never "ce o zi").
• cât de
  • adjective/adverb is the more measured "how...! / so...!", foregrounding the degree and common in run-on clauses (cât de mult te-am așteptat).
• ce de
  • noun exclaims about quantity ("what a lot of..."); the de flips ce from quality (Ce oameni! "what sort of people") to amount (Ce de oameni! "what a crowd").
• Never use cum to exclaim — it's the question word "how?"; and any statement can become an exclamation through intonation alone.