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¡Qué furioso estuvo el pasajero!

¡Qué furioso estuvo el pasajero!
How furious the passenger was!
From Lesson 103:The preterite of tener, estar, and hacer·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¡Qué furioso estuvo el pasajero!

Why is it estuvo instead of a regular past tense form?
Estuvo is the "he/she/it" preterite (completed past) form of estar. As you are learning in this lesson, estar is highly irregular in this tense. Its stem changes completely to estuv-, giving us forms like estuve (I was) and estuvo (he/she/it was).
Why use a form of estar here instead of ser for "was"?
You use estar for temporary emotions and physical states. Because being furious is a temporary feeling rather than a permanent personality trait of the passenger, it requires estar.
Why does qué mean "how" here instead of "what"?
When qué is followed directly by an adjective (like furioso) in an exclamation, it translates to "How...!" So, ¡Qué furioso! means "How furious!" Another common example you might hear is ¡Qué bonito! (How pretty!).
Why is the subject (el pasajero) at the very end of the sentence?
In Spanish exclamations that start with qué plus an adjective, the verb usually comes right after the adjective, pushing the subject to the end. If this were a regular statement, you would say El pasajero estuvo furioso, but the exclamation changes the word order.

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