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Il doganiere è molto meticoloso quando deve frugare.

Il doganiere è molto meticoloso quando deve frugare.
The customs officer is very meticulous when he has to rummage.
From Lesson 446:Emphatic exclamations (che)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il doganiere è molto meticoloso quando deve frugare.

How would we turn the first part of this sentence into an emphatic exclamation using the pleonastic "che" from this lesson?
You could say Che meticoloso che è il doganiere! (How meticulous the customs officer is!). The second che is pleonastic (grammatically unnecessary but used for emphasis), which is very common in spoken Italian to add emotional weight to an exclamation.
What is the root word of doganiere?
It comes from dogana, which means "customs" (the border checkpoint). The suffix -iere is frequently used to indicate a profession or role, similar to infermiere (nurse) or cameriere (waiter).
The word frugare means "to rummage". Can it take a direct object in Italian?
Yes! Frugare can be used transitively (e.g., frugare le tasche - to search the pockets) or intransitively with the preposition in (e.g., frugare nella valigia - to rummage in the suitcase). In this sentence, it is used broadly without any object at all.
What spelling rule must we remember when conjugating a verb like frugare?
Because it ends in -gare, you must insert an h whenever the conjugated ending starts with an e or an i in order to maintain the hard "g" sound. For example, "we rummage" is frughiamo and "you rummage" is frughi.

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