What is the translation of "qué bien?"

Question

Paralee says "¡qué bien!" twice in lesson 1.4. Does that translate to "that's good" even though she doesn't include some form of "is?"

Answer 1

The qué + some adjective, is more like our English how + some adjective. Qué + some noun is more like our what + some noun or even our such + noun.

¡Qué maravilloso! = How wonderful!

¡Qué delicioso filete! = What a delicious steak! (or Such a delicious steak!)

¡Qué basura! = What garbage! (or Such garbage!)

It's an expression that shows something is over-the-top (be it good or bad) and is usually used to show extreme satisfaction or extreme disgust with something.

Is the e supposed to be accented in qué in such phrases? I can't remember. I think it is but could be wrong.

You could also translate them as using full sentences...

¡Qué maravilloso! = That's so wonderful!

¡Qué delicioso filete! = That's a delicious steak! (Or, more like, "Man! That's one delicious steak!)

¡Qué basura! = That's a bunch of garbage!

Just remember that the Spanish is NOT full sentences and this is used to show intense feelings about something (good or bad).

From my brief amount of follow-up study it looks as though it is the accented form: "qué bueno." Thanks :-) - BasketQase, Sep 9, 2010

Answer 2

Hi, BC. Welcome to the forum.

It means something like "How great!"

You can put "Que" in front of a lot of words, such as:

"¡Que bueno!" That's great!

"¡Que malo!" That's (or he) bad!

"¡Que lindo!" How pretty!

"¡Que feo!" How ugly!

Thanks for the welcome and for the answer! I went with webdunce's simply because it seemed after follow-up study that the "que" should be "qué" and I wanted to make it easier for anyone else who might have the same question to see the correct accent form. - BasketQase, Sep 9, 2010