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Tão caro que está o peixe!

Tão caro que está o peixe!
How expensive the fish is!
From Lesson 229:Exclamativas (que bem, como, tão... que)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of Tão caro que está o peixe!

o peixe
the fish
caro
expensive
tão
as / so
que
that (conjunction)

Questions & Answers about Tão caro que está o peixe!

Why does this sentence use Tão (so) instead of a word for "how"?
In Portuguese exclamations, it is very common to express "How [adjective]!" by using Tão [adjective] que... (literally "So expensive that..."). You wouldn't use words like como or quão here. Another natural option would be Que caro que está....
Why use está (from estar) instead of é (from ser) for "is"?
We use estar because the price of fish fluctuates; it is a temporary state. Saying está means the fish is expensive right now at the market or these days. If you used é, it would imply that fish is an inherently expensive luxury item all the time.
What is the word que doing in the middle of the sentence?
In this specific exclamatory structure, que connects the emphasized phrase (Tão caro) to the rest of the sentence. It doesn't have a direct English translation in this context, but you can think of it like "that" in the literal phrase "So expensive that the fish is!".
Could I just say O peixe está tão caro with normal word order?
Yes, absolutely! O peixe está tão caro! just means "The fish is so expensive!" and is perfectly correct. Moving Tão caro to the front and putting the subject (o peixe) at the very end adds a lot more dramatic emphasis, like you are reacting in shock to a price tag.

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