qué bonito
/ke bonito/from spelling rules
In Spanish, how pretty is expressed as qué bonito.
This phrase is an exclamation used to express admiration for the beauty of someone or something. In writing, it is often accompanied by exclamation marks and in speech, it is typically spoken with a rising intonation to convey genuine enthusiasm. While it can mean how pretty, qué bonito is also frequently used to mean how nice or how lovely when reacting to a situation, a gesture or an idea.
Which one should you use?
You can choose different adjectives depending on the level of admiration you wish to express. While qué bonito means how pretty or how nice, qué bello can be used to express a higher degree of admiration or to convey a more poetic sense of beauty. Other related adjectives include hermoso/a (beautiful), precioso/a (gorgeous) and guapo/a (handsome/pretty).
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase must agree in gender with the noun it describes. Use qué bonita for feminine nouns and qué bonito for masculine nouns. For example, the word lindo is the masculine form used when the noun being described is masculine.
How do you pronounce it?
/ke bonito/
Did you know?
- While qué bonito describes beauty, the word bonito is also the specific name for a type of fish, named for its attractive appearance.
- While qué bonito is generally a compliment, using it with a specific sarcastic tone can turn the phrase into a way to express irony or annoyance.
- The word bonito is actually a diminutive form of the word bueno, meaning 'good'. It is created by adding the suffix '-ito' to the root of 'good' to imply something is 'little good' or 'nice'.
Examples in context
- Qué bonita es usted.How pretty you are.
- ¡Qué linda eres!How pretty you are!
- ¡Estás preciosa!You look gorgeous!
- ¡Qué bonita es tu sonrisa!How pretty your smile is!
- ¡Qué bonito es este jardín!How pretty this garden is!
Example conversation
Elena and Daniel are looking at a sunset in a park.
- Elena¡Mira el cielo, qué bonito!Look at the sky, how pretty!
- DanielTienes razón, Elena, es impresionante.You're right, Elena, it's impressive.
- ElenaMe encanta este lugar.I love this place.
- DanielA mí también me gusta mucho.I like it a lot too.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bonito, qué, CC BY-SA 4.0.
