Breakdown of Che sorpresa che è la rigidità di queste regole!
essere
to be
queste
these (feminine)
di
of, from
la sorpresa
the surprise
Questions & Answers about Che sorpresa che è la rigidità di queste regole!
Why are there two ches in this sentence?
The first che translates to "What a", making it an exclamation. The second che is "pleonastic" (meaning grammatically unnecessary but added for style). It links the exclamation directly to the verb, making the sentence sound more emphatic and natural in spoken Italian than the literal translation would.
Why does the verb è come right after the second che, instead of after the subject?
English uses "What a surprise", so why is there no una before sorpresa?
In Italian exclamations using che, you never use an indefinite article. You connect che directly to the noun. Saying che una sorpresa is a very common trap for English speakers, but it is always grammatically incorrect.