колко/какъв in Exclamations

Exclamations with Колко and Какъв

Level 3Sounds Like vʺzklicaniâ s kolko i kakʺv

To say "How...!" use колко: Колко хубаво! To say "What a...!" use какъв: Какъв умен човек!

How It Works

1. Колко: how...!

With an adjective or adverb: Колко хубаво! (How nice!) Колко е красиво тук! (How beautiful it is here!)
With a verb: Колко си пораснал! (How you've grown!)
With a noun, meaning "so many": Колко хора има тук! (How many people there are here!)

This is the same word you use to ask questions; see колко.

2. Какъв: what a...! It agrees in gender and number with the noun, like in questions about what kind:

An adjective between them agrees too; see adjective agreement.

3. No article. The noun after какъв stays in its basic form: Каква изненада!, not *Каква изненадата!. There is also no word for "a".

Tip: in speech the voice falls at the end, and in writing you finish with an exclamation mark.

Колко хубаво!
How nice!
Какъв умен човек!
What a clever man!
Какъв matches the masculine noun човек.
Каква изненада!
What a surprise!
Каква matches the feminine noun изненада.
Колко си пораснал!
How you've grown!
Колко before a verb; said to a boy.
Какво хубаво време днес!
What lovely weather today!
Какво matches the neuter noun време.
Колко хора има тук!
How many people there are here!

Not matching какъв to the noun.
Какъв красива рокля!
Каква красива рокля!
Рокля is feminine, so both the exclamation word and the adjective take feminine forms: каква красива.
Putting the article on the noun.
Каква изненадата!
Каква изненада!
After какъв in an exclamation the noun has no article.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

колко/какъв in ExclamationsLevel 3Exclamations with Колко and Какъв

Exclamations reuse колко and какъв.

Patterns that build on this one.

колкокакъв

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