Question 1

Why are there two che's in the phrase Che noia che è?

Accepted Answer

The first che means "what a" (as in che noia - what a bore). The second che is the focus of this lesson: it's a "pleonastic" (extra and technically unnecessary) word used in colloquial Italian. It connects the exclamation to the verb (è) to make the emotion stronger. You could perfectly well say Che noia frugare... or Che noia è frugare..., but adding the second che sounds very natural and emphatic in spoken Italian.

Question 2

Why is bagagli plural if the English translation says "this luggage"?

Accepted Answer

In English, "luggage" is an uncountable noun. In Italian, bagaglio is countable, referring to a single bag or piece of luggage. Because the speaker is rummaging through multiple bags, the plural bagagli is used, paired with the plural adjective questi (these).

Question 3

Why use the preposition in after frugare?

Accepted Answer

When you want to say you are rummaging "through" or searching "inside" something, the verb frugare is usually followed by the preposition in (or sometimes tra/fra, meaning "among"). Unlike the English "search [a place]", Italian requires a preposition here.

Question 4

Could I reorder this sentence to put frugare at the beginning?

Accepted Answer

Yes! The literal structure here is "What a bore that it is to rummage...". You could flip it to a more standard subject-verb-exclamation order: Frugare in questi bagagli è una noia! (Rummaging in this luggage is a bore!). Putting che noia at the very front just highlights the speaker's frustration right away.

Che noia che è frugare in questi bagagli!

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