Hoe lekker is dit nagerecht!

to be

Breakdown of Hoe lekker is dit nagerecht!

• dit: this
• hoe: how
• het nagerecht: the dessert

Questions & Answers about Hoe lekker is dit nagerecht!

Is this a real question or an exclamation?

It looks like a question structurally (verb in second position after hoe), but with an exclamation mark it’s used as an exclamation: How delicious this dessert is! With a question mark, it becomes a genuine question asking for degree: Hoe lekker is dit nagerecht?

Why hoe here, and could I use wat instead?

Both are possible for exclamations:

• Hoe + adjective + verb + subject: Hoe lekker is dit nagerecht!
• Wat + verb + subject + adjective: Wat is dit nagerecht lekker! The wat version is very common and slightly more colloquial. The hoe version sounds a touch more formal or emphatic about degree, but both mean the same in practice.

Why dit and not deze?

Because nagerecht is a neuter singular noun (het nagerecht). Use dit for singular neuter nouns. Use deze for de-words and for all plurals.

• dit nagerecht (het-woord, singular)
• deze taart (de-woord, singular)
• deze nagerechten (plural)

Why is there no article before nagerecht?