Они продолжили поиск.

• Они = they
• продолжили = continued
• поиск = search

So the sentence means They continued the search or, depending on context, They continued searching.

Продолжили is the past tense plural form of the verb продолжить, which means to continue.

Its basic parts are:

• продолжить = infinitive, to continue
• продолжили = past tense, plural, continued

Because the subject is они (they), the verb appears in the plural past form.

In Russian, past tense verbs agree with the subject in number, and in the singular also in gender.

For past tense:

• masculine singular: -л
• feminine singular: -ла
• neuter singular: -ло
• plural: -ли

So:

• он продолжил = he continued
• она продолжила = she continued
• оно продолжило = it continued
• они продолжили = they continued

That is why you see -ли here.

Because in the plural, Russian past tense does not show gender.

So они продолжили can refer to:

• a group of men,
• a group of women,
• a mixed group,
• or even non-human things, depending on context.

Gender only matters in the singular past tense, not the plural.

Поиск is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb продолжили.

They continued what?
→ поиск (the search)

However, for many masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks exactly like the nominative singular. So:

• nominative: поиск
• accusative: поиск

That is why the form does not change.

Because поиск is a masculine inanimate noun, and in the accusative singular, masculine inanimate nouns usually have the same form as the nominative.

Compare:

• nominative: поиск
• accusative: поиск
• genitive: поиска

So поиска would be a different case, usually genitive, and would not fit here as the normal direct object.

Russian often uses either structure:

• продолжили поиск = continued the search
• продолжили искать = continued searching / continued to search

Both are natural. The version with поиск sounds slightly more like the search effort as a thing or operation. The version with искать focuses more directly on the action to search.

So this sentence is very natural Russian.

The meaning is very close, but the emphasis is a little different:

• продолжили поиск = they continued the search
  • focus on the search as an activity, mission, or operation
• продолжили искать = they continued searching
  • focus on the ongoing action itself

In many contexts, the difference is small, and both could work.

Russian does not have articles like a and the.

So поиск can mean:

• a search
• the search
• sometimes just searching

The exact English translation depends on context. In this sentence, the search is often the most natural translation, but Russian itself does not explicitly mark that.

Yes, Russian can sometimes omit the subject if it is clear from context.

So both are possible:

• Они продолжили поиск.
• Продолжили поиск.

However, there is an important detail: in the past tense, продолжили only tells you that the subject is plural, not who it is. So if the subject is not already obvious, они helps make it clear.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible.

The most neutral order is:

• Они продолжили поиск.

But you could also say:

• Поиск они продолжили.
• Продолжили поиск они. (less neutral, more marked)

Changing the order usually changes emphasis, not the basic meaning.

For example:

• Поиск они продолжили puts more focus on the search
• Они продолжили поиск is the plain, neutral version

Продолжили comes from the perfective verb продолжить.

In Russian, perfective verbs usually present an action as a complete event or as a single whole fact. Here, it means that they went on with the search as a completed step in the story.

The imperfective partner is продолжать. Compare:

• Они продолжили поиск.
  = They continued the search.
  (a completed event, viewed as a whole)

• Они продолжали поиск.
  = They were continuing the search / They kept continuing the search.
  (focus on the process)

In many real contexts, English may still translate both as continued, but the Russian aspect adds a difference in viewpoint.

The stress is:

• Они́ продолжи́ли по́иск.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Они́ ≈ a-NEE
• продолжи́ли ≈ pra-dal-ZHEE-lee
• по́иск ≈ PO-isk

The stressed syllables are very important in Russian, so it is worth learning them together with the word.

It is singular.

• поиск = search
• поиски = searches / search efforts / search operations, depending on context

In this sentence, singular поиск is the normal form for the search as one activity or operation.

Yes, in some contexts продолжили can be understood as resumed or went on with, especially if there had been a pause.

So depending on the situation, Они продолжили поиск could mean:

• They continued the search
• They resumed the search

The exact nuance comes from context, not from the grammar alone.