Breakdown of ¿Te sorprende que la factura del gas sea tan cara?
ser
to be
del
of the / from the / about the (topic)
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
te
to you / yourself (reflexive) / you (direct object)
caro
expensive
tan
as / so (degree)
el gas
the gas, the fizz (in drinks)
la factura
the bill (invoice)
sorprender
to surprise
Questions & Answers about ¿Te sorprende que la factura del gas sea tan cara?
Why is the verb sea in the subjunctive here?
The verb sorprender (to surprise) is a verb of emotion. In Spanish, when you express an emotion about a different subject (in this case, the gas bill), you use que followed by the subjunctive. Because of this trigger, the normal present tense es changes to the subjunctive sea.
Why do we say te sorprende instead of using the "you" form, sorprendes?
Sorprender works just like the verb gustar. The sentence structure is literally "Does it cause surprise to you...". The entire second half of the sentence (the bill being expensive) is the "it" causing the surprise, so we use the third-person singular sorprende. The te is an indirect object pronoun showing who is being surprised.
Why do we use ser (here as sea) instead of estar to say the bill is expensive?
We generally use ser to describe the qualities and characteristics of a noun. Even though gas prices can go up and down in the world, the cost is treated as a descriptive characteristic of this specific piece of paper, so we use ser.
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