Cuán vs cuánto
They can have an accent (cuán y cuánto), or not (cuan y cuanto) and correspond to how and how much.
¡Cuánto tiempo sin verte!
Long time no see! (literally: how long I haven't seen you)
Tenemos que vernos cuanto antes.
We need to meet as soon as possible. (literally: we need to meet however soon)
We use cuán (with an accent):
In front of adjectives or adverbs in interrogative or exclamatory sentences.
¡Cuán rápido acabaron las vacaciones!
How quickly the vacation is over!
We use cuan (without an accent):
In front of adjectives or adverbs to make emphatic comparisons.
Es una película tan aburrida cuan larga.
It is a movie as boring as it is long.
In comparisons of equality after tan (so) + adjective/adverb + cuan. In these cases cuan can be replaced by como (as).
Llegó tan cansado cuan/como desilusionado de su viaje.
He arrived as tired as disillusioned from his trip.
We use cuánto (with and accent):
In front of masculine singular nouns or verbs in interrogative or exclamatory sentences.
¿Cuánto vale?
How much is it?
¡Cuánto dinero he gastado!
I've spent so much money! (literally: what money I have spent!)
We use cuanto (without an accent):
As an adjective, pronoun or adverb to express quantities. In these cases it can present variations of gender and number (cuanto/s, cuanta/s).
Cuanto más grites, menos caso te haré.
The more you yell, the less I'll listen to you.
Me llevé unos cuantos libros de vacaciones.
I took a few books with me on vacation.
Note: Nowadays it is more common to use qué (what) instead of cuán (how) in spoken language. Cuán is used in literary language.
¡Cuán/qué vergonzoso eres!
How embarrassing you are!
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