qué bien
/ke bjen/from spelling rules
The English phrase "that is nice" can be expressed in Spanish as qué bien.
Qué bien is an expression used to react positively to a piece of good news or a pleasant situation. While the English word "nice" often refers to the quality of an object or a person, qué bien is used specifically to react to news, events or situations that are good or pleasing.
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, qué bien translates to "how well".
Which one should you use?
If you want to say "that is nice" to describe a person's character or a physical object's pleasantness, you would use qué amable or qué bonito instead of qué bien.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Mexico, you can use the informal word chido to mean "cool" or "nice". In Spain, the informal expression qué guay translates to "how cool" or "how nice". In Peru and Chile, the informal expression bacán is used to mean "nice" or "cool".
Did you know?
- The word bien originates from the Latin 'bene', which is also the ancestor of the English prefix 'bene-' used in words like 'beneficial'.
- While qué bien is a positive reaction, saying está bien can sometimes be an ambiguous way to agree to something without being truly enthusiastic.
- In many Spanish-speaking countries, reacting to news with qué bien is often accompanied by a small nod or a smile to signal genuine social empathy.
Examples in context
- El discurso del Presidente fue muy agradable.The President's speech was very nice.
- Esa pintura es muy bonita.That painting is very nice.
- Tu nuevo auto se ve muy chido.Your new car looks really nice.
- Acabo de ganar entradas para el concierto. ¡Qué guay!I just won tickets to the concert. How cool!
- ¡Me han dado el trabajo! ¡Qué bien!I got the job! That's great/That's nice!
Example conversation
Mateo tells María that he finally got a promotion at work.
- MaríaMateo, ¿tienes alguna noticia buena?Mateo, do you have any good news?
- MateoSí, ¡por fin me dieron el ascenso!Yes, I finally got the promotion!
- María¡Qué bien, te lo mereces!That is nice, you deserve it!
- MateoMuchas gracias, María.Thank you very much, María.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bien, qué, CC BY-SA 4.0.
