minna wa hakken ni odorokimashita.

topic particle

Breakdown of minna wa hakken ni odorokimashita.

• に: target particle
• 驚おどろく: to be surprised
• みんな: everyone

Questions & Answers about minna wa hakken ni odorokimashita.

What does みんな mean here? Is it casual?

みんな means everyone, everybody, or all of them.

Yes, it is somewhat casual and very common in everyday Japanese. It is not rude, but it is less formal than expressions like:

• みな = everyone
• みなさん = everyone / everyone here / ladies and gentlemen

So みんなは発見に驚きました is a normal, natural sentence, but not especially formal in tone.

Why is there a は after みんな?

は marks the topic of the sentence.

So みんなは means something like:

• as for everyone
• everyone, ...

In natural English, we usually do not translate は directly. It just tells you what the sentence is about.

So the structure is:

• みんなは = as for everyone
• 発見に = at/by the discovery
• 驚きました = was surprised / were surprised

Could this sentence use が instead of は?