¡Qué torpe! Se me cayó el vaso otra vez.

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Breakdown of ¡Qué torpe! Se me cayó el vaso otra vez.

• el vaso: the glass
• otra vez: again
• caer: to fall

Questions & Answers about ¡Qué torpe! Se me cayó el vaso otra vez.

What does ¡Qué torpe! literally mean, and why is qué used here?

Literally, ¡Qué torpe! means something like How clumsy! or So clumsy!

Here, qué is used in an exclamation to intensify an adjective or noun. It often corresponds to English how or what a in exclamations.

Examples:

• ¡Qué bonito! = How lovely!
• ¡Qué pena! = What a shame!
• ¡Qué torpe! = How clumsy!

So the speaker is reacting emotionally, usually about themselves in this sentence.

Why is it torpe and not torpo or something else?

Torpe is the normal form of the adjective and it does not change for masculine/feminine singular.

So:

• un chico torpe
• una chica torpe
• ¡Qué torpe!

Some Spanish adjectives change ending for gender, like alto / alta, but others stay the same, like:

• inteligente
• triste
• torpe

It does change for plural:

• torpes

Why does the sentence say Se me cayó el vaso instead of just or ?