How to Express Exclamations in French

How to Express Exclamations in French Exclamations are words or phrases that express a desire, an order, or a strong emotion. There are various French grammatical structures that can be used as true exclamations. All of them end in an exclamation point, and there is always a space between the last word and the exclamation mark, as there is for several other French punctuation marks. The exclamation mark is a grammatical end mark that occurs often in French, whether the sentence or phrase is a true exclamation or not. It is, thus, in many instances a softer mark than in English. Exclamation points are often added even if speakers are just a little agitated or are raising their voice even slightly; the mark doesnt have to mean that they are truly exclaiming or declaring something.   By the way, Merriam-Webster defines an exclamation as: a sharp or sudden utterancea vehement expression of protest or complaint And Larousse defines the French equivalent verb  sexclamer,  as to cry out; for example, sexclamer sur la beautà © de quelque chose  (to cry out in admiration over the beauty of something).   Here are some French grammatical structures that can be used to express exclamations where urgency or a heightened emotional state is implicit. French Imperative The imperative expresses an order, hope, or wish, as in: Viens avec nous.   Come with us. The imperative can also express urgency or an extreme emotional state, as in: Aidez-moi !  Ã‚  Help me! Que + Subjunctive Que followed by the subjunctive creates a third person command or wish: Quelle finisse avant midi  !   I hope shes done by noon!Quil me laisse tranquille  !   I wish hed just leave me alone! Exclamative Adjective The exclamative adjective quel is used to emphasize nouns, as in: Quelle bonne idà ©e  !   What a good idea!Quel dà ©sastre  !   What a disaster!Quelle loyautà © il a montrà ©e  !   What loyalty he showed! Exclamative Adverbs Exclamative adverbs like que or comme add emphasis to statements, as in: Que cest dà ©licieux  !   Its so delicious!Comme il est beau  !   He is so handsome!Quest-ce quelle est mignonne!   She sure is cute! The Conjunction Mais The conjunction mais  (but) can be used to emphasize a word, phrase, or statement, like this: Tu viens avec nous  ?   Are you coming with us?Mais oui  !   Why yes!Il veut nous aider.   He wants to help us.Mais bien sà »r  !   But of course!Mais je te jure que cest vrai  !   But I swear its true! Interjections Just about any French word can be an exclamation if it stands alone as an interjection, such as : Voleur  !   Thief!Silence  !   Quiet! Quoi and comment, when  used as interjections,  express shock and disbelief, as in: Quoi  ! Tu as laissà © 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 called direct exclamations  because the speaker is exclaiming his or her feelings of shock, disbelief, or amazement. 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 loyautà © il a montrà ©e  ! Je sais quelle loyautà © il a montrà ©e.What loyalty he showed! I know what loyalty he showed.Comme cest dà ©licieux  ! Jai dit comme cà ©tait dà ©licieux.Its delicious! I said it was delicious. In addition, the exclamative adverbs que, ce que, and quest-ce que in direct exclamations always change to comme or combien in indirect exclamations: Quest-ce cest joli  ! Il a dit comme cà ©tait joli.Its so pretty! He said how pretty it was.Que dargent tu as gaspillà ©Ã‚  ! Je sais combien dargent tu as gaspillà ©.Youve wasted so much money! I know how much money youve wasted.