Мы нащупали рычаг под столом.

Нащупали means found by touch, felt around and located, or managed to feel something with the hands.

It is stronger than just touched or felt. The idea is that someone was searching without relying on sight, and then successfully found the object.

So Мы нащупали рычаг под столом suggests something like:

• We felt around and found the lever under the table
• We located the lever by touch under the table

The infinitive is нащупать.

The form нащупали is:

• past tense
• plural
• perfective

The perfective aspect is important here. It shows a completed result: they did not just feel around; they successfully found the lever.

Compare:

• нащупали = found by touch / managed to feel and locate
• нащупывали = were feeling around for / kept trying to find by touch

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender/number.

Because the subject is мы = we, the verb must be plural, so it takes -ли:

• я нащупал / нащупала = I found by touch
• он нащупал = he found by touch
• она нащупала = she found by touch
• мы нащупали = we found by touch

In the plural, Russian past tense does not show gender, only number.

Рычаг is the direct object of the verb, so it is in the accusative case.

However, рычаг is:

• masculine
• singular
• inanimate

For many masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: рычаг
• accusative: рычаг

That is why you do not see a change here.

Because под uses different cases depending on the meaning:

• под + instrumental = under in a location sense, with no motion
• под + accusative = to under something, showing movement/direction

Here, под столом means under the table as a location.

Examples:

• рычаг под столом = the lever is under the table
• положить рычаг под стол = to put the lever under the table

So столом is the instrumental singular of стол.

Russian has no articles, so под столом can mean either:

• under the table
• under a table

Which one is meant depends on context.

In many situations, English will naturally use the because both speaker and listener know which table is meant.

Yes. Russian often drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form or from context.

So Нащупали рычаг под столом can also work in context, especially in conversation.

Including мы can add:

• clarity
• emphasis
• contrast, as in we found it, not someone else

So мы is not wrong or unusual at all; it is just more explicit.

No. Russian word order is fairly flexible.

Мы нащупали рычаг под столом is a neutral, natural order.

But other orders are possible, with different emphasis:

• Под столом мы нащупали рычаг = emphasizes under the table
• Рычаг мы нащупали под столом = emphasizes the lever
• Мы под столом нащупали рычаг = can emphasize the location of the action

The basic meaning stays similar, but the focus shifts.

The most natural reading is usually that the lever was under the table.

So the sentence is normally understood as:

• We found the lever that was under the table

But technically, Russian can sometimes leave this kind of attachment slightly open, and context decides.

If you want to make the lever-location reading especially clear, you could say:

• Мы нащупали под столом рычаг

If you want to stress that we were under the table, you would usually make that clearer through context or wording.

The stress is:

Мы нащу́пали рыча́г под столо́м.

Word by word:

• мы
• нащу́пали
• рыча́г
• под
• столо́м

The stressed syllables are important in Russian, so it helps to learn them early.

Yes, but the meaning becomes less specific.

• Мы нашли рычаг под столом = We found the lever under the table
• Мы нащупали рычаг под столом = We found the lever by touch under the table

So нашли is more general.
Нащупали specifically tells you how they found it: by feeling around, probably without seeing it clearly.