¡Qué maravilla que construyan un hospital aquí!
How wonderful that they are building a hospital here!
Breakdown of ¡Qué maravilla que construyan un hospital aquí!
un
a, an (masculine)
el hospital
the hospital
aquí
here
qué
what
que
that / than
construir
to build
la maravilla
the marvel / the wonder
Questions & Answers about ¡Qué maravilla que construyan un hospital aquí!
Why is construyan in the subjunctive here instead of the normal present tense?
The exclamation ¡Qué maravilla que... expresses a strong emotion or a subjective judgment. In Spanish, whenever you state an opinion, emotion, or value judgment about an action, the verb that follows que must be in the subjunctive mood. That is why we use construyan instead of the indicative construyen.
The English translation says 'How wonderful', which is an adjective. Why does the Spanish use maravilla, which is a noun?
Spanish frequently uses nouns in these evaluative exclamations, so ¡Qué maravilla! literally translates to 'What a marvel!' or 'What a wonder!'. You could absolutely use the adjective instead and say ¡Qué maravilloso que construyan un hospital aquí!. Both are completely natural and mean the exact same thing.
Where does the 'y' in construyan come from if the infinitive is construir?
For verbs ending in -uir (like construir, incluir, or destruir), a y is added before the ending in most present tense forms to make the word flow better. Since the present subjunctive is built from the 'yo' form of the present indicative (construyo), that y carries over to the subjunctive forms, giving us construyan.
The English translation says 'they are building'. Could I use the progressive form estén construyendo instead?
Yes, you could say ¡Qué maravilla que estén construyendo un hospital aquí! if you really want to emphasize that the construction is happening right this second. However, in Spanish, the simple present subjunctive (construyan) is very versatile and is the most common and natural way to express both 'they build' and 'they are building' in this context.
Learn ¡Qué maravilla que construyan un hospital aquí and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free