Questions & Answers about Ce voyage a été un enfer.
How would I turn this into an exclamation using comme or ce que from the current lesson?
You can simply add Comme or Ce que to the very beginning of the sentence: Comme ce voyage a été un enfer ! or Ce que ce voyage a été un enfer ! This emphasizes the statement, translating to something like "Man, that trip was hell!" Notice that the word order of the original sentence does not change at all when you add these exclamative words.
Why does this sentence use a été instead of était to say "was"?
The passé composé (a été) treats the trip as a single, completed event that is now entirely over. If you used the imperfect tense (était), it would sound like you were just setting the background scene for another event in a story, as in "The trip was hell, until we finally arrived."
Why is there an un before enfer? In English, we just say "was hell".
Could I use trajet instead of voyage here?
Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly. Un voyage usually refers to the entire trip or vacation as a whole. Un trajet refers specifically to the physical journey or the time spent travelling from point A to point B. If only your flight or car ride was terrible, but the vacation itself was fine, you would say Ce trajet a été un enfer.
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