Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¡Qué maquillaje tan llamativo!

¡Qué maquillaje tan llamativo!

What striking makeup!

Breakdown of ¡Qué maquillaje tan llamativo!

Questions & Answers about ¡Qué maquillaje tan llamativo!

Why is tan separated from Qué and put in the middle of the phrase?

In Spanish, when you make an exclamation that includes both a noun and an adjective, you use the formula ¡Qué + noun + tan (or más) + adjective + !. Instead of keeping the adjective next to the noun like in English, Spanish structures it literally as 'What makeup so striking!'.

Could I use más instead of tan here?

Yes, absolutely! You can say ¡Qué maquillaje más llamativo!. In these types of exclamations, tan and más do the exact same job to emphasize the adjective. While tan is extremely common in Latin America, both options are perfectly natural and mean the same thing.

What is the root of the adjective llamativo?

It comes from the verb llamar (to call). If something is llamativo, it literally 'calls' your attention. That is why it is the perfect word to describe something 'striking', 'flashy', or 'eye-catching'.

Is there a trick to remembering the gender of maquillaje?