Опёнок уже нашли.

Because опёнок is not the subject here — it is the object.

The verb нашли means found in the past plural form, with an implied subject like they or someone:

(Они) уже нашли опёнок.
= They have already found the honey mushroom.

Russian often leaves out the subject when it is understood from context. So the verb stays plural, even though опёнок is singular.

It is the direct object.

A native English speaker may first think опёнок is the subject because it comes first, but Russian word order is much freer than English word order. In this sentence, the hidden subject is they/some people, and опёнок is what was found.

So the structure is basically:

[опёнок] [already] [they found]

That is why a natural English translation is:

They’ve already found the honey mushroom.

It is in the accusative, but for a masculine inanimate singular noun, the accusative often looks exactly the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: опёнок
• accusative: опёнок

This is normal for many masculine inanimate nouns in Russian.

Compare:

• Я вижу стол. = I see a table.
• Я нашёл опёнок. = I found a honey mushroom.

If the noun were animate, the accusative would often look different.

Putting опёнок first gives it topic or emphasis.

Russian often moves words around to show what is already being discussed, what is contrasted, or what the speaker wants to highlight. So this sentence feels a bit like:

As for the honey mushroom, they’ve already found it.

If you said:

Они уже нашли опёнок.

that would be a more straightforward they already found the honey mushroom type of order.

So the original sentence is not wrong at all — it just has a particular information focus.

Уже means already.

It shows that the action was completed before now, or earlier than expected. So:

Опёнок уже нашли.
= They’ve already found the honey mushroom.

It often appears with completed actions and can add the idea of it’s done now or sooner than you might think.

Нашли is the past plural form of найти.

• infinitive: найти
• past plural: нашли

This verb is perfective, so it presents the action as completed and with a result.

That fits well with уже:

уже нашли
= have already found

If you wanted a non-completed or ongoing idea, you would normally use a different verb or aspect.

In meaning, it can be very close to an English passive.

English often says:

The honey mushroom has already been found.

Russian often prefers an active plural verb with no stated subject, especially when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from context:

Опёнок уже нашли.

So yes, the meaning may feel passive in English, but the Russian structure is not actually passive here.

A more explicitly passive Russian version would be:

Опёнок уже найден.
or
Опёнок уже был найден.

Those sound more formal or bookish than Опёнок уже нашли.

Yes. In many Russian texts, ё is often written as е, even though the pronunciation is still ё.

So you may see:

• опёнок — fully marked spelling
• опенок — common spelling without the dots

But the correct pronunciation is with ё, and ё is always stressed.

So the word is pronounced roughly like a-PYO-nak.