Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¡Qué bonita es la amistad!

¡Qué bonita es la amistad!

How beautiful friendship is!

Breakdown of ¡Qué bonita es la amistad!

Questions & Answers about ¡Qué bonita es la amistad!

Why do we use Qué here instead of Cómo to say "How"?

When exclaiming "How [adjective]!", Spanish uses Qué. We only use Cómo for "how" when talking about the way an action is done (like asking "How do you do that?"). So, "How beautiful!" translates to ¡Qué bonita!.

Why is there a la before amistad when the English translation just says "friendship"?

In Spanish, abstract concepts and general categories require a definite article (el, la, los, las). While English drops the article and just says "friendship," Spanish needs it, making it la amistad.

Why is the verb placed before the subject (es la amistad)?

In exclamatory sentences that start with Qué plus an adjective, Spanish naturally inverts the word order to put the verb before the subject. Saying ¡Qué bonita la amistad es! would sound very unnatural to a native speaker.

Is there a trick to remembering the gender of amistad so I know to use bonita?

Yes! Nouns ending in -tad (and the very similar -dad) are almost always feminine in Spanish. Because amistad is feminine, the adjective describing it must be the feminine bonita.