Questions & Answers about ¡Qué campeón tan nervioso!
Why doesn't it say ¡Qué un campeón... to mean "What a champion"?
In Spanish, the exclamatory word qué (when it means "what a...") connects directly to the noun. You never use the indefinite articles un or una after qué in this kind of exclamation.
Why is the word order campeón tan nervioso instead of nervioso campeón?
In English, we put the adjective first ("What a nervous champion!"). In Spanish exclamations, the standard pattern is ¡Qué + [noun] + tan + [adjective]!. It literally translates to "What a champion so nervous!" You will also often hear más used instead of tan here (¡Qué campeón más nervioso!) with the exact same meaning.
If tan usually means "so," why isn't it translated in the English meaning?
Why does campeón have an accent mark? Does the plural have one too?
It has a written accent because words ending in n are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable. To make the stress fall on the final o instead, an accent mark is required. However, in the plural (campeones), that extra syllable shifts the natural stress to the o anyway, so the written accent mark disappears.
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