Questions & Answers about Estoy sorprendido hoy.
Spanish uses estar (estoy) for temporary states, emotions, and conditions, and ser (soy) for more permanent characteristics or identities.
Being surprised is:
- a temporary emotional state
- not a defining characteristic
So you say:
- Estoy sorprendido hoy = I am (feeling) surprised today.
Using Soy sorprendido would sound wrong, as if being surprised were a permanent quality of your personality.
You can say Yo estoy sorprendido hoy, and it is grammatically correct.
However, in Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc.) are usually omitted because the verb ending (-oy in estoy) already tells you who the subject is.
- Estoy sorprendido hoy. (neutral, normal)
- Yo estoy sorprendido hoy. (adds emphasis, like: I am surprised today, maybe unlike others)
So yo is optional and is used mainly for emphasis or contrast.
Yes. Adjectives in Spanish must agree in gender and number with the person they describe.
Singular:
- Male speaker: Estoy sorprendido hoy.
- Female speaker: Estoy sorprendida hoy.
Plural:
- Group with at least one man: Estamos sorprendidos hoy.
- Group of only women: Estamos sorprendidas hoy.
So a woman should say Estoy sorprendida hoy.
Originally, sorprendido is the past participle of the verb sorprender (to surprise).
In Estoy sorprendido hoy, it is functioning as an adjective that describes your state, similar to English surprised.
Compare:
- Verb: Me han sorprendido. = They have surprised me.
- Adjective: Estoy sorprendido. = I am surprised.
With estar + participle, very often the participle has become an adjective describing a condition or result.
Yes, you can say Hoy estoy sorprendido. Both are correct:
- Estoy sorprendido hoy.
- Hoy estoy sorprendido.
The meaning is the same: I’m surprised today.
The difference is very small:
- Putting hoy at the beginning (Hoy estoy sorprendido) slightly emphasizes today.
- Putting hoy at the end (Estoy sorprendido hoy) sounds a bit more neutral.
In everyday speech, both orders are perfectly natural.
Both relate to surprise, but they focus on different things.
Estoy sorprendido (hoy).
- Focus on your emotional state.
- Describes how you feel.
- Example: Estoy sorprendido hoy, no me esperaba estas noticias.
Me sorprende…
- Focus on the cause of your surprise.
- Literally: It surprises me that…
- Often followed by que + subjunctive or a noun.
- Examples:
- Me sorprende que digas eso. = I’m surprised that you say that.
- Me sorprende esta decisión. = This decision surprises me.
You can combine both:
- Estoy sorprendido hoy; me sorprende lo que ha pasado.
Yes, Estoy muy sorprendido hoy is perfectly natural and common.
- muy is used to intensify adjectives: muy sorprendido, muy cansado, muy contenta, etc.
- You should not say estoy mucho sorprendido. With adjectives, use muy, not mucho.
Other natural variations:
- Estoy bastante sorprendido hoy. = I’m quite surprised today.
- Estoy súper sorprendido hoy. (more colloquial) = I’m really surprised today.
Hoy is not necessary.
- Estoy sorprendido. = I’m surprised. (no specific reference to today)
- Estoy sorprendido hoy. = I’m surprised today. (emphasizes that this is your state today)
You choose hoy only if you want to highlight the time aspect. Otherwise, Estoy sorprendido is more general.
You need to change both the verb and the adjective to match the subject in number (and gender, for groups of only women).
We are surprised today:
- Mixed group or all men: Estamos sorprendidos hoy.
- All women: Estamos sorprendidas hoy.
They are surprised today:
- Mixed group or all men: Ellos están sorprendidos hoy.
- All women: Ellas están sorprendidas hoy.
Remember:
- estar conjugates: estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están.
- sorprendido changes to sorprendida / sorprendidos / sorprendidas to agree with the subject.
Yes, both por and de are used with sorprendido, and in practice they often overlap.
Examples:
- Estoy sorprendido por la noticia.
- Estoy sorprendido de la noticia.
Both are understood as I’m surprised by the news.
Very roughly:
- por often points to the agent or cause.
- Estoy sorprendido por lo que has dicho.
- de can feel a bit more like about / at, and is very common with emotion adjectives.
- Estoy sorprendido de lo rápido que has terminado.
In everyday Spanish from Spain, you will hear both; you don’t need to worry too much about a strong difference here.
They belong to the same family but are used differently.
sorprendido / sorprendida
- Describes the person who feels surprise.
- Used with estar.
- Example: Estoy sorprendido hoy. = I am surprised today.
sorprendente
- Describes something that causes surprise (something is surprising).
- Often used with ser.
- Examples:
- Es sorprendente esta noticia. = This news is surprising.
- Es sorprendente lo bien que hablas español.
You can have both in one idea:
- Estoy sorprendido porque la situación es sorprendente.
Yes, especially in informal speech in Spain, you’ll hear several alternatives:
More neutral:
- Qué sorpresa. = What a surprise.
- Vaya sorpresa. = What a surprise. / Wow, what a surprise.
Colloquial:
- Estoy alucinado. = I’m blown away.
- Estoy flipando. = I’m freaking out / I can’t believe it.
- No me lo puedo creer. = I can’t believe it.
- No me lo esperaba. = I wasn’t expecting it.
All of these can appear instead of or together with Estoy sorprendido hoy, depending on context and how strong or informal you want to sound.