Französisch-Übersicht

Exclamations — quel comme que

three routes, and none of them invertsA2

In one line

quel goes with a noun, comme and que with a clause — and unlike questions, none of them changes the word order.

The forms on this page

FormMeansSound
quelwhat a …! — used with a noun/kɛl/
commehow …! — used with a clause/kɔm/
quehow …! — the same job as comme, a touch more formal/kə/

The table

StructureWithExample
quel /kɛl/a nounQuelle belle maison ! /kɛl bɛl mɛ.zɔ̃/
comme /kɔm/a clauseComme c'est beau ! /kɔm sɛ bo/
que /kə/a clause (more formal)Que c'est beau ! /kə sɛ bo/
qu'est-ce que /kɛs.kə/a clause (spoken)Qu'est-ce que c'est beau ! /kɛs.kə sɛ bo/
ce que /sə kə/a clause (spoken)Ce que c'est beau ! /sə kə sɛ bo/

The last four all mean the same thing and differ only in register: que written, comme neutral, qu'est-ce que and ce que colloquial.

English splits this the same way and the mapping is nearly one to one. English uses "what" with a noun and "how" with an adjective or clause: "What a beautiful house!" versus "How beautiful it is!" quel is "what a", and comme is "how". The one thing to drop is the article — see the next section.

quel — and its agreement

quel is an adjective, so it agrees with the noun:

Pronunciation
Quel dommage !masculine singular/kɛl dɔ.maʒ/
Quelle chance !feminine singular/kɛl ʃɑ̃s/
Quels beaux enfants !masculine plural/kɛl bo.z‿ɑ̃.fɑ̃/
Quelles belles fleurs !feminine plural/kɛl bɛl flœʁ/

And no article follows:

❌ Quelle une belle maison ! ✅ Quelle belle maison !

This is the one thing English will make you add. English says "what a beautiful house" with the article; French says Quelle belle maison without it. The a in "what a" has no French equivalent — drop it entirely.

comme and que — with a full clause

A clause follows, in ordinary order:

Pronunciation
Comme il fait chaud !how hot it is/kɔm il fɛ ʃo/
Comme tu as grandi !how you've grown/kɔm ty a ɡʁɑ̃.di/
Que c'est cher !how expensive it is/kə sɛ ʃɛʁ/
Que de monde !what a crowd/kə də mɔ̃d/

Que de + noun is a special structure: Que de problèmes ! — what a lot of problems. The de is required here.

Exclaiming with no question word

Just intonation and an exclamation mark:

Pronunciation
C'est incroyable !that's incredible/sɛ.t‿ɛ̃.kʁwa.jabl/
Il fait froid !it's freezing/il fɛ fʁwa/
Quelle horreur !how awful/kɛl o.ʁœʁ/

Ready-made exclamations

FrenchPronunciationEnglish
Quel dommage !/kɛl dɔ.maʒ/what a shame
Quelle chance !/kɛl ʃɑ̃s/how lucky
Quelle horreur !/kɛl o.ʁœʁ/how awful
Quelle surprise !/kɛl syʁ.pʁiz/what a surprise
Quelle idée !/kɛl i.de/what an idea
Comme c'est gentil !/kɔm sɛ ʒɑ̃.ti/how kind
Ça alors !/sa a.lɔʁ/well I never
Tiens !/tjɛ̃/oh, look
Dis donc !/di dɔ̃k/well well
Mince !
Zut !		/mɛ̃s/ · /zyt/damn
Ouf !/uf/phew
Bravo !/bʁa.vo/well done
Tant mieux !/tɑ̃.mjø/so much the better
Tant pis !/tɑ̃.pi/never mind
Heureusement !/ø.ʁøz.mɑ̃/thank goodness
Enfin !/ɑ̃.fɛ̃/at last

The difference from a question

The same words appear in questions, and the structure tells you which:

QuestionExclamation
Quelle heure est-il ? /kɛ.l‿œʁ ɛ.t‿il/ — invertedQuelle belle heure ! /kɛl bɛl œʁ/ — not inverted
Comment ça va ? /kɔ.mɑ̃ sa va/Comme ça va bien ! /kɔm sa va bjɛ̃/
Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? /kɛs.kə ty fɛ/Qu'est-ce que tu es beau ! /kɛs.kə ty ɛ bo/

An exclamation never inverts. ❌ Comme est-il beau ! ✅ Comme il est beau !

English used to invert here — "How beautiful is she!" — and now does not either, so the modern habit is the right one.

Punctuation

French puts a space before !:

✅❌
Quelle chance !Quelle chance!

The detail is in majuscules-ponctuation.

Examples

EnglishFrenchPronunciation
What a beautiful house!Quelle belle maison !/kɛl bɛl mɛ.zɔ̃/
What a shame!Quel dommage !/kɛl dɔ.maʒ/
How lucky!Quelle chance !/kɛl ʃɑ̃s/
How beautiful it is!Comme c'est beau !/kɔm sɛ bo/
How hot it is!Qu'il fait chaud !/kil fɛ ʃo/
How you've grown!Comme tu as grandi !/kɔm ty a ɡʁɑ̃.di/
What a crowd!Que de monde !/kə də mɔ̃d/
How expensive it is!Qu'est-ce que c'est cher !/kɛs kə sɛ ʃɛʁ/
That's incredible!C'est incroyable !/sɛ.t‿ɛ̃.kʁwa.jabl/
At last!Enfin !/ɑ̃.fɛ̃/

Common mistakes

❌✅Why
Quelle une belle maison !Quelle belle maison !No article after quel
Comme est-il beau !Comme il est beau !Exclamations do not invert
Quel belle maison !Quelle belle maison !It has to agree
Que problèmes !Que de problèmes !With a noun you need de
Quelle chance!Quelle chance !A space before !
Comment c'est beau !Comme c'est beau !comment is the question word

That last row is the one to watch. English uses "how" for both the question ("how are you?") and the exclamation ("how lovely!"). French uses two different words: comment asks, comme exclaims.

Why quel is both a question word and an exclamation

because both do the same thing: point at a degree

quel comes from Latin qualis, "of what kind".

And "of what kind?" has two natural uses:

UseExamplePronunciation
a question — I genuinely do not knowQuelle heure est-il ?/kɛ.l‿œʁ ɛ.t‿il/
an exclamation — I know, and I am struck by itQuelle heure !/kɛl œʁ/

In an exclamation, the question is rhetorical: "What a house!" means "there is no describing it".

English does exactly the same: What a house! uses the same "what" as What is that? And so does "how" — How are you? beside How lovely!

So the pattern is shared and the only thing to learn is the structural difference:

French
questioninversion or est-ce que
exclamationno change to the word order at all

The practical point: write the sentence in ordinary order and put an exclamation mark on it, and you are right. Any attempt to invert is wrong.

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