Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Qué tan deslumbrante es esa escultura?

¿Qué tan deslumbrante es esa escultura?

How dazzling is that sculpture?

Breakdown of ¿Qué tan deslumbrante es esa escultura?

Questions & Answers about ¿Qué tan deslumbrante es esa escultura?

Why use qué tan instead of cómo to say "how"?

While cómo asks for a general description or manner (like "in what way"), qué tan specifically asks about the degree or extent of a quality. When followed by an adjective like deslumbrante, it translates to "how [adjective]." So, ¿Qué tan deslumbrante...? asks "To what degree is it dazzling?"

Is qué tan used everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world?

It is universally understood, but it is specifically the standard in Latin America. In Spain, you will much more commonly hear cómo de followed by an adjective to express the exact same idea, such as ¿Cómo de deslumbrante es...?

Since escultura is feminine, why doesn't deslumbrante end in "a"?

Adjectives ending in -e in Spanish are gender-neutral, meaning they stay exactly the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. If you were talking about a masculine noun like a diamond (un diamante), it would still be deslumbrante. To make it plural, you just add -s (deslumbrantes).

Does deslumbrante only mean "dazzling" in a figurative, impressive sense?