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Les sensations du surf sont passionnantes à découvrir.

Les sensations du surf sont passionnantes à découvrir.
The sensations of surfing are thrilling to discover.
From Lesson 279:Adjectives followed by an infinitive (à, de)·French

Questions & Answers about Les sensations du surf sont passionnantes à découvrir.

Why do we use à before découvrir instead of de?
This ties directly into the current lesson! When a specific noun is the subject of the sentence (here, Les sensations), and the following infinitive describes an action done to that subject (you discover the sensations), we use à after the adjective. If we used an impersonal dummy subject like "It is...", we would use de instead: Il est passionnant de découvrir les sensations.
Why is it du surf and not just de surf?
Du is the mandatory contraction of de + le. In French, you generally need a definite article (le, la, les) when talking about a broad concept or sport. So, "the sensations of surfing" translates to de + le surf, which always merges into du surf.
Why does the adjective passionnantes end in -es?
In French, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. Here, it describes Les sensations, which is a feminine plural noun. We add an -e to the base adjective passionnant to make it feminine, and an -s to make it plural.
Is passionnantes a false friend here? Does it mean "passionate"?
Yes, it can be tricky! While passionné describes a person who is "passionate," the adjective passionnant (ending in -ant) describes a thing or experience that is "thrilling," "fascinating," or "exciting."

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