How do you say what a in French?

With quel and no article: quel dommage, quelle chance, quels souvenirs. The a of English what a is already contained in quel, which is why quel un is impossible.

What's the difference between quel and comme in exclamations?

Quel introduces a noun: quelle belle maison ! Comme introduces a whole clause with a verb in it: comme cette maison est belle ! If your exclamation has a conjugated verb, you need comme, que, or ce que.

Is exclamative quel the same word as interrogative quel?

Same forms, same agreement, different job. The question version is followed by a verb or attached to être (quel est ton nom ?), while the exclamation stops at the noun phrase and ends with an exclamation mark.

Why is there a space before the exclamation mark in French?

French typography puts a thin space before double punctuation marks — ?, !, :, and ; — so quelle surprise ! is correctly spaced and quelle surprise! is not. Word processors set to French insert it automatically.

What does que de mean in an exclamation?

It exclaims about quantity rather than quality: que de monde ! means what a crowd. The noun takes no article and de elides before a vowel, giving que d'efforts ! for what an effort.

French grammar · Beginner

Exclamative Adjectives in French: Quel, Quelle, Quels, Quelles

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

French exclaims about a noun with quel, quelle, quels, or quelles. The form agrees with the noun, and no article comes between them: quel dommage, quelle chance, quels beaux enfants. To exclaim about an adjective or a verb instead, French uses comme or que.

Quelle belle journée !

What a beautiful day!

What it is

An exclamative adjective turns a noun into an exclamation. French uses the same four forms it uses for questions, and it drops the article entirely, so where English says what a shame, French says simply quel dommage.

Quel courage ! Quelle surprise ! Quels progrès ! Quelles idées ! — What courage! What a surprise! What progress! What ideas!

How to spot it

Match the form to the noun, leave out un or une, and close with an exclamation mark preceded by a space.

Quel talent ! — What talent! (masculine singular)
Quelle histoire ! — What a story! (feminine singular)
Quels beaux jardins ! — What beautiful gardens! (masculine plural)
Quelles belles photos ! — What lovely photos! (feminine plural)

French puts a space before the exclamation mark. It's a typographic rule, and its absence is one of the quickest ways to spot a text written by a learner.

Exclamative Adjectives Quick Reference

The forms and the neighbouring constructions

Structure	Goes with	Example	English
quel	masculine singular noun	Quel dommage !	What a shame!
quelle	feminine singular noun	Quelle chance !	What luck!
quels	masculine plural noun	Quels souvenirs !	What memories!
quelles	feminine plural noun	Quelles vacances !	What a holiday!
quel + adjective + noun	any noun	Quelle bonne idée !	What a good idea!
que de + noun	quantity	Que de monde !	What a crowd!
comme + clause	a whole sentence	Comme il fait chaud !	How hot it is!
ce que + clause	a whole sentence, informal	Ce que tu es drôle !	You're so funny!

Common Exclamative Adjectives Examples in French

Exclamations sorted by what you're reacting to:

Reacting to a Noun

Quel courage !: What courage!
Quelle coïncidence !: What a coincidence!
Quel désastre !: What a disaster!
Quelle horreur !: How awful!

These stand alone as complete utterances. No verb is needed, and none is implied.

With an Adjective in Between

Quelle belle maison !: What a beautiful house!
Quel mauvais temps !: What terrible weather!
Quels jolis dessins !: What lovely drawings!
Quelle drôle de question !: What a strange question!

Only adjectives that normally precede the noun can slot in here. A postposed adjective goes after: quelle robe magnifique !

Exclaiming About Quantity

Que de monde !: What a crowd!
Que de bruit !: What a racket!
Que de temps perdu !: What a waste of time!
Que de questions tu poses !: What a lot of questions you ask!

Que de is about amount rather than quality, and it's slightly more literary than quel.

Exclaiming About a Whole Sentence

Comme c'est gentil !: How kind of you!
Comme le temps passe vite !: How quickly time passes!
Ce qu'il est bavard !: He's so talkative!
Qu'est-ce qu'il fait froid !: It's so cold!

Comme is neutral, ce que is conversational, and qu'est-ce que is the most emphatic of the three.

How Exclamative Quel Works

Two structural rules and one typographic one account for nearly every exclamation of this kind.

No Article After Quel

English needs what a; French needs nothing. Quel already functions as the determiner, so adding un or une leaves the noun with two determiners, which French does not allow.

Quel dommage !

What a shame!

quel + noun, nothing in between.

It Agrees Like Any Adjective

Quel takes the gender and number of the noun it introduces, in exactly the way beau or petit would. The four forms are pronounced identically, so this is a written distinction.

Quelles belles couleurs !

What beautiful colours!

Match the noun, hear no difference.

An Adjective Can Sit in the Middle

If the adjective belongs before the noun in ordinary French, it stays there in the exclamation, and both it and quel agree with the noun.

Quel bel endroit !

What a lovely spot!

quel + preposed adjective + noun.

Quel Introduces Nouns, Comme Introduces Clauses

If what excites you is a noun, use quel. If it's a state of affairs with a verb in it, French switches to comme, que, or ce que, and the sentence keeps its normal word order.

Comme cette maison est belle !

How beautiful this house is!

Noun → quel. Sentence → comme.

Mind the Space Before the Mark

French typography inserts a thin space before an exclamation mark, a question mark, a colon, and a semicolon. It's not optional in edited writing, and exclamations are where it shows up most.

Quelle bonne surprise !

What a nice surprise!

Space, then the mark.

Common Mistakes with Exclamative Adjectives

Incorrect: Quel un dommage ! — What a shame!

Correct: Quel dommage ! — What a shame!

Quel is already the determiner, so the indefinite article has nowhere to go. English what a translates as quel on its own.

Incorrect: Quelle beaux jardins ! — What beautiful gardens!

Correct: Quels beaux jardins ! — What beautiful gardens!

Jardins is masculine plural, so both quel and the adjective take masculine plural endings. All four forms sound the same, which is why the agreement slips in writing.

Incorrect: Qu'une belle journée ! — What a beautiful day!

Correct: Quelle belle journée ! — What a beautiful day!

Que doesn't introduce a noun phrase on its own. Before a noun you need quel; que and comme are reserved for full clauses.

Incorrect: Quel cette maison est belle ! — How beautiful this house is!

Correct: Comme cette maison est belle ! — How beautiful this house is!

There's a verb in this sentence, so it needs comme, que, or ce que. Quel can only attach directly to a noun.

The Other Ways French Exclaims

Quel covers nouns. Three neighbouring structures cover everything else, and they differ mainly in register.

Que de for quantity

Que de plus a noun exclaims about how much or how many there is. The noun takes no article, and the phrase can stand alone or precede a full clause.

Que de gens dans la rue !: What a lot of people in the street!
Que d'efforts pour rien !: So much effort for nothing!
Que de fois je te l'ai dit !: How many times have I told you!

De elides before a vowel: que d'histoires !, what a fuss.

Comme and que with a full sentence

To exclaim about a state rather than a thing, put comme or que in front of an ordinary sentence. Nothing else changes: no inversion, no extra word.

Comme tu as grandi !: How you've grown!
Que c'est beau !: How beautiful it is!
Comme il pleut !: How it's raining!

Que in this use is more formal than comme, and it's mainly written.

Ce que and qu'est-ce que in speech

Conversational French prefers ce que or qu'est-ce que for the same job. Both are followed by a normal clause, and both sound warmer than comme.

Ce que c'est cher !: It's so expensive!
Qu'est-ce qu'elle est drôle !: She's so funny!
Ce que j'ai eu peur !: I was so frightened!

Qu'est-ce que here is an exclamation, not a question, despite looking exactly like one.

Exclamative Adjectives FAQs

How do you say what a in French?: With quel and no article: quel dommage, quelle chance, quels souvenirs. The a of English what a is already contained in quel, which is why quel un is impossible.
What's the difference between quel and comme in exclamations?: Quel introduces a noun: quelle belle maison ! Comme introduces a whole clause with a verb in it: comme cette maison est belle ! If your exclamation has a conjugated verb, you need comme, que, or ce que.
Is exclamative quel the same word as interrogative quel?: Same forms, same agreement, different job. The question version is followed by a verb or attached to être (quel est ton nom ?), while the exclamation stops at the noun phrase and ends with an exclamation mark.
Why is there a space before the exclamation mark in French?: French typography puts a thin space before double punctuation marks — ?, !, :, and ; — so quelle surprise ! is correctly spaced and quelle surprise! is not. Word processors set to French insert it automatically.
What does que de mean in an exclamation?: It exclaims about quantity rather than quality: que de monde ! means what a crowd. The noun takes no article and de elides before a vowel, giving que d'efforts ! for what an effort.