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How formal is the Spanish word cuán? When is it appropriate to use, and when does it seem out of place? How are sentences using cuán normally expressed in informal speech?

fedorqui
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jrdioko
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4 Answers4

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In Spain, cuán is rarely used in normal, informal speech, though I think it would generally be understood.

To express the same, you can use qué, or lo ... que:

¡Cuán rápidamente caminan las malas nuevas! = ¡Qué rápidamente caminan las malas nuevas!

No puedes imaginarte cuán desgraciado soy = No puedes imaginarte lo desgraciado que soy

In questions, in Spain, it is often replaced by cómo de:

¿Cuán grande es tu coche? = ¿Cómo de grande es tu coche?

But this usage is probably incorrect.

NOTE
Though the definition by RAE doesn't say anything about the use of cuan in questions, the DPD does:

Aunque no es frecuente, cuán puede aparecer también en enunciados interrogativos

UPDATE
As @Gorpik comments, and extracted from DPD (section 4.g):

qué tan(to). Locución adverbial equivalente, según los casos, a cuán(to) o a cómo de, que puede aparecer en oraciones interrogativas o exclamativas, tanto directas como indirectas. Era normal en el español medieval y clásico, y hoy pervive en amplias zonas de América

This also implies, in my opinion, that cómo de is also correct.

MikMik
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  • I strongly disagree with using it as Cómo de. I think it is incorrect. Do you have a source for it? Or are you a native spanish speaker so it may be a regionalism? :) Thanks! – Jose Luis Jan 10 '12 at 12:09
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    No, I don't have any sources. I have always heard it as cuán, but it may well be incorrect. I'll edit my answer. – MikMik Jan 10 '12 at 14:25
  • Thank you! I am not sure it is incorrect. It only sounds very bad. :) – Jose Luis Jan 11 '12 at 06:27
  • Cuán, as in the example of the coche, could be replaced with "¿Qué tan grande..." – Alfredo Osorio Jan 11 '12 at 21:11
  • +1 "Cómo es de grande tu coche?" is accepted use in Argentina, actually the standard way; though it sounds slightly incorrect. – leonbloy Jan 12 '12 at 19:18
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    "Cuán grande es..." sounds unusual (too literary, almost poetic) but definitely correct to me. I am a native from Galicia, northwest Spain. – CesarGon Feb 21 '12 at 15:53
  • I use Cómo de grande as part of standard madrileño speech. – user0721090601 Apr 16 '15 at 21:28
  • According to the DPD, all of those forms are valid: qué tan(to). Locución adverbial equivalente, según los casos, a cuán(to) o a cómo de, que puede aparecer en oraciones interrogativas o exclamativas, tanto directas como indirectas. Era normal en el español medieval y clásico, y hoy pervive en amplias zonas de América. – Gorpik Apr 17 '15 at 08:45
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"Cuan" may be an unusual word for American-Spanish talkers but in Spain is quite common, at least in the "quantitative meaning" in questions. Other uses are not very very frequent and, usually, "cuan" is substituted by other structures (not by other words).

Cuan has two meanings that depend on the context, one of them is almost lost in the language.

1.- Cuan (in direct or indirect questions or in exclamations it should be written as "cuán"): Its meaning is "how much" or "how many" and it is a short form for "cuanto" (or "cuánto" in questions and exclamations). It is used when the word is just before an adjetive or and adverb ("cuan largo es", "cuan lejos vives") and never when you are making a comparison. It is very unusual to find it out of exclamations or interrogations but in old literature, and can be substituted by "todo lo".

Example: "Corro cuan rápido puedo"-->"Corro todo lo rápido que puedo"

In exclamations, it is usually substituted by "qué" so you will not find it except in literature, especially in poetry.

Example: ¡Cuán bello es el amor!-->¡Qué bello es el amor!

In questions, is more frequent, although is not the most frequently used form to ask the size of something. In Spain, it is very common to use "cómo de", and, in Latinoamérica, "qué tan".

Example: ¿Cuán largo es el vestido? --> ¿Cómo de largo es el vestido?//¿Qué tan largo es el vestido?

2.- Its second meaning is equivalent to "as" and introduces the second part of a comparison (as...as...). It is extremely rare, at least in Spain and in Mexico (I do not know other regions regionalisms), even in the literature. Almost always it is substituted by "como".

Example: Tan alto cuan feo--> Tan alto como feo.

I hope I have helped, although it has been quite a long time since you asked the question. I apologize for my English.

Cuan: http://buscon.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=XzArprp97D66gn05Kb

Cuán: http://buscon.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=qsi2cT7VVD6TqNJhJC

Ignacio Peñín
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In questions, "cuán" is equivalent to "qué tan":

¿Cuán rápido estamos caminando? = ¿Qué tan rápido estamos caminando?

¿Cuán bueno es ese restaurante? = ¿Qué tan bueno es ese restaurante?

¿Cuán lejos está la biblioteca? = ¿Qué tan lejos está la biblioteca?

In exclamations, "cuán" is equivalent to "qué":

¡Cuán rápido estamos caminando! = ¡Qué rápido estamos caminando!

¡Cuán bueno es ese restaurante! = ¡Qué bueno es ese restaurante!

¡Cuán lejos está la biblioteca! = ¡Qué lejos está la biblioteca!

"Cómo de" is a regionalism. I think outside of Spain it sounds very bad. In general, if you can use "qué", this will be the preferred form in the informal and formal speech. "Cuán" is more common in writing, especially in literature. I think using "cuán" is not formal; it's just not usual. My hypothesis is educated people use "cuán" more frequently, but it isn't related to a formality issue.

Community
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Ricardo
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    In Spain qué tan sounds wrong :) As you say, here we use cómo de. Both expressions are correct, according to the DPD. – Gorpik Apr 17 '15 at 08:46
  • Correct spanish should never use the ¿qué tan..? it sounds as a "barbarism" adapted from english. – eduyayo Jul 06 '15 at 15:53
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    @eduyayo: according to who? qué tan is the only viable option in many places in latin america, in fact, cómo de might sound completely ungrammatical. There's nothing inherently wrong about the phrase. This SE aims to discuss how Spanish is used and not how it should be used according to some arbitrary standards. – clinch Jul 06 '15 at 17:57
  • Not the only viable. As for correct is cuánto. According to all spanish speakers in Spain. – eduyayo Jul 06 '15 at 17:59
  • Spaniards only have a say within their own dialects. No one is forcing Spaniards to use qué tan, why should they be able to force anything on others? Something like cuánto rápido estamos caminando sounds ungrammatical to my ears, it's not an alternative. If you wanna continue this discussion, feel free to join the chat so we don't flood this answer with comments. – clinch Jul 06 '15 at 18:06
  • Nobody is forcing or whatever the thing you want to say about us the spaniards (By the way you´re not "latin" america as for Romans never reach there). If you speak wrong, you speak wrong. It does not matter where you are from. For example, "leismo" and "laismo" are well known wrong ways of speaking in some places here in Spain and wrong way of speaking in most or all Mejico. And it is wrong per se. Nobody imposes people the correct or incorrect way. They just do it wrong the standard way... But wrong. Please, Read more. Hate less. – eduyayo Jul 06 '15 at 18:31
  • Una pregunta del tipo ¿Cómo es el paquete? (u otro objeto) puede ser ambigua en cuanto a las características que se desean conocer (forma, tamaño, color...); ¿Cómo es el paquete de forma y tamaño? es una forma válida de formular la frase especificando. Si sólo se requiere una característica, también vale ¿Cómo es el paquete de tamaño? y si se presupone que es pequeño ¿Cómo es el paquete de pequeño? o bien ¿Cómo de pequeño es el paquete? – Blas Soriano Jul 07 '15 at 06:35
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Although this isn't really what you were asking about, maybe it's worth mentioning that it would be somewhat out of place to use cuán when you're in Mexico, where it is far more common to say qué tan. For example,

¿Qué tan lejos está el Zócalo?

or

¿Qué tan grande es?

Michael Wolf
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