Qué vs Que

[fglorca]

That’s great! = ¡Qué bien!

The ‘e’ in 'que' takes a written accent, am I correct?

Many thanks in advance.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Yes. All "qué" in exclamations (and questions) bear an accent, even when there are no exclamation marks, if they work similar to pronouns:

- ¡Qué bueno!
- ¡Qué felicidad!
- Qué bonita flor dibujaste.
- ¡Qué mal día he tenido!
- ¡Qué descaro!
- Qué tristeza me da esta noticia.
- ¿Qué me has dicho?
- Juan me preguntó qué hiciste hoy.
- ¿Qué ropa me pongo hoy?
- Qué ropa use no es asunto tuyo.


"Que" is not accented when it works as a conjunction, even when it starts a sentence with exclamation or question marks:

- ¡Que pases un muy feliz cumpleaños!
- ¡Que no quiero ir! (You are supposed to know I don't want to go, and I'm repeating it as if you didn't hear me say it before.)
- ¿Que no fuiste a trabajar? (I learnt from a third party that you didn't go to work, I want to know if it's true.)
- ¿Que yo dije qué? (First "que" is used as if it continued from a sentence like "dijiste que yo dije...". Second "qué" works as a pronoun that substitutes what I'm supposed to have said.

[fglorca]

Thanks a million, AngelicaDeAlquezar. These are superb explanations, and even better examples! Much appreciated.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I'm glad you found them useful. :)