French Exclamations

Exclamations are words or phrases that express a desire, an order, or a strong emotion. There are several different French grammatical structures that can be used as exclamations.

French imperative

The imperative expresses an order, hope, or wish:

   Viens avec nous.
   Come with us.

   Aidez-moi !
   Help me!


Que + subjunctive

Que followed by the subjunctive creates a third person command or wish:

   Qu'elle finisse avant midi !
   I hope she's done by noon!

   Qu'il me laisse tranquille !
   I wish he'd just leave me alone!


Exclamative adjective

The exclamative adjective quel is used to emphasize nouns:

   Quelle bonne idée !
   What a good idea!

   Quel désastre !
   What a disaster!

   Quelle loyauté il a montrée !
   What loyalty he showed!


Exclamative adverbs

Exclamative adverbs add emphasis to statements:

   Que c'est délicieux !
   It's delicious!

   Comme il est beau !
   He is so handsome!

   Qu'est-ce qu'elle est mignonne!
   She sure is cute!


Mais

The conjunction mais can be used to emphasize a word, phrase, or statement:

   - Tu viens avec nous ? - Mais oui !
   - Are you coming with us? - Why yes!

   - Il veut nous aider - Mais bien sûr !
   - He wants to help us - But of course!

   Mais je te jure que c'est vrai !
   But I swear it's true!


Interjections

Just about any French word can be an exclamation if it stands alone as an interjection:

   Voleur !
   Thief!

   Silence !
   Quiet!

Quoi and comment are used as interjections to express shock and disbelief:

   Quoi ! Tu as laissé tomber cent euros ?
   What! You dropped a hundred euros?

   Comment ! Il a perdu son emploi ?
   What! He lost his job?


Indirect Exclamations

All of the above are known as direct exclamations, because the speaker is exclaiming his or her own feelings of shock, disbelief, amazement, etc. Indirect exclamations, in which the speaker is explaining rather than exclaiming, differ from direct exclamations in three ways: they occur in sub-clauses, do not have an exclamation point, and require the same grammatical changes as indirect speech:

   Quelle loyauté il a montrée ! > Je sais quelle loyauté il a montrée
   What loyalty he showed! > I know how much loyalty he showed

   Comme c'est délicieux ! > J'ai dit comme c'était délicieux
   It's delicious! > I said it was so delicious


In addition, the exclamative adverbs que, ce que, and qu'est-ce que in direct exclamations always change to comme or combien in indirect exclamations:

   Qu'est-ce c'est joli ! > Il a dit comme c'était joli
   It's so pretty! > He said how pretty it was

   Que d'argent tu as gaspillé ! > Je sais combien d'argent tu as gaspillé
   You've wasted so much money! > I know how much money you've wasted