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Questo regalo mi sorprende molto.

Questo regalo mi sorprende molto.
This gift surprises me a lot.
From Lesson 74:First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Questo regalo mi sorprende molto.

Why is mi placed before the verb instead of after it?
In Italian, direct object pronouns like mi (me), ti (you), ci (us), and vi (you all) usually go right before the conjugated verb. So instead of the English word order "surprises me", the Italian phrasing is "me surprises" (mi sorprende).
Why does sorprende end in -e?
The verb is sorprendere (to surprise), which is a regular -ere verb. The subject doing the surprising is questo regalo (this gift). Since "this gift" is a third-person singular subject (an "it"), the verb takes the matching -e ending.
Could molto change its ending here, for example to molti?
No, it must stay as molto. When molto modifies a verb to mean "a lot" or "very much" (as it does here with sorprende), it acts as an adverb and never changes its ending. It only changes to molti, molta, or molte when it describes a noun (like molti regali for "many gifts").
Why is it questo regalo and not questa regalo?
Questo means "this". In Italian, words like "this" have to match the gender of the noun they point to. Because regalo (gift) is a masculine singular noun, you must use the masculine singular form questo.

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