Learn Hardcore Russian: Иногда я нахожу новые слова в газете. - Sometimes I find new words in the newspaper.

Иногда я нахожу новые слова в газете.
– Slightly more focus on “sometimes” (the adverb comes first).
– Feels like you’re setting the scene: “Sometimes, I…”
Я иногда нахожу новые слова в газете.
– Slightly more neutral, with a small focus on “I”.
– Very natural, maybe a bit more common in normal speech.

In everyday conversation, both are fine and interchangeable. Russian word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs like иногда (“sometimes”), часто (“often”), редко (“rarely”), etc.

Why is the verb нахожу used here and not найду? What’s the difference between находить and найти?

The sentence uses нахожу because it talks about a repeated, habitual action:

Иногда я нахожу новые слова в газете.
Sometimes I (happen to) find new words in the newspaper.

The verb pair is:

находить – imperfective (process, habit, repeated action)
- я нахожу
- ты находишь
- он/она находит …
найти – perfective (single, completed action, result)
- я найду
- ты найдёшь
- он/она найдёт …

So:

Я иногда нахожу новые слова в газете.
= From time to time, this happens in general (habit).
Я найду новые слова в газете.
= I will find new words in the newspaper (on this particular occasion / I promise / I intend to).
This is future and refers to one concrete future event, not a general habit.

Russian does not normally use perfective verbs (like найти) in the present tense, so найду is future, not present.

What is the difference between я нахожу and я ищу? Both look like “I find / I search.”

They talk about different stages of the same situation:

искать = to look for, to search
- я ищу слова – I am looking for words / I search for words.
находить = to find (to successfully discover what you were looking for, or come across it)
- я нахожу слова – I (actually) find words / I end up discovering words.

So:

Иногда я ищу новые слова в газете.
= Sometimes I look for new words in the newspaper.
Иногда я нахожу новые слова в газете.
= Sometimes I (actually) find new words in the newspaper
(whether I was searching for them or not).

The original sentence focuses on the result (finding), not on the search itself.

Why is it новые слова? What case is this, and why doesn’t it change form?

Новые слова is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of the verb нахожу:

я нахожу что? → новые слова

Details:

слово (word) – neuter noun
- nominative singular: слово
- nominative plural: слова
- accusative plural: also слова (for inanimate neuter nouns, nominative plural = accusative plural)
новый (new) – adjective
- nominative plural (all genders mixed): новые
- accusative plural for inanimate nouns: also новые

So nominative plural and accusative plural look the same here:

Nominative: новые слова (new words – as the subject)
Accusative: новые слова (new words – as the object)

In this sentence, grammar tells us it’s accusative because the phrase answers “find what?”

Why is it в газете and not в газету? What case is used here?

В газете is prepositional case, used with в to indicate location “in”:

в + prepositional = in / at (static location)
газета → в газете (“in the newspaper”)

В газету would be accusative case and usually means motion into something:

в + accusative = into / to (direction, movement)
- Кладите деньги в газету. – Put the money into the newspaper.
- Я смотрю в газету. – I look into the newspaper (direction of gaze).

In your sentence, there is no idea of movement; we’re talking about the place where you find the words, so Russian uses в + prepositional:

Иногда я нахожу новые слова в газете.
= Sometimes I find new words in the newspaper (while reading it).

Could I say в газетах instead of в газете? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say both, but they’re slightly different:

в газете – singular, “in a/the newspaper” (some particular newspaper you are reading):
- Sometimes I find new words in the newspaper (for example, in today’s paper or in this specific newspaper).
в газетах – plural, “in newspapers (in general or in various newspapers)”:
- Иногда я нахожу новые слова в газетах.
  = Sometimes I find new words in newspapers (not just one specific newspaper; it happens in different papers).

So:

Use в газете if you have one concrete newspaper in mind (or just talking about the newspaper you’re currently reading).
Use в газетах if you mean newspapers as a category or several different newspapers.

Can I drop the pronoun я and say «Иногда нахожу новые слова в газете»?

Yes, it is grammatically possible to drop я, and the sentence will still be understood:

Иногда нахожу новые слова в газете.

Russian often omits personal pronouns when the subject is clear from the verb ending and from context. The ending -у / -ю on нахожу already shows that the subject is “I” (first person singular).

However:

Including я – Иногда я нахожу… – sounds a bit more neutral and is the most typical form, especially in formal or careful speech.
Omitting я – Иногда нахожу… – is a bit more elliptical / colloquial, like something you might write in a diary, or say when the context is very obvious.

Both are acceptable; beginners are usually safer keeping the pronoun.

How do I pronounce this sentence? Where are the stresses?

Stresses (marked with bold):

Иногда́ – in-o-gdá (stress on the last syllable: -гда́)
я – ya (always stressed, one syllable)
нахожу́ – na-kha-zhú (stress on -жу́)
но́вые – но́-vy-ye (stress on но́)
слова́ – slo-vá (stress on -ва́)
в – v (just a consonant)
газе́те – ga-zyé-te (stress on -зе́)

Approximate pronunciation in English-like syllables:

Иногда́ я нахожу́ но́вые слова́ в газе́те.
[ee-na-gdá ya na-kha-zhú NO-vi-ye sla-vá v ga-ZYE-te]

Notes:

х is like the ch in German Bach, or Scottish loch.
в at the end of a phrase is usually pronounced like [f] (so в ≈ “f” here).
е after г / з is pronounced like [ye] → зе́ = zyé.

What about the word слова – does it always mean “words”? I heard it can mean something else too.

Yes, слова can be a bit confusing because it is used in more than one way.

слово → слова́ (plural “words”)
- singular: сло́во – a word
- plural: слова́ – words
  → Иногда я нахожу новые слова́ в газете. – “Sometimes I find new words in the newspaper.”
сло́во → сло́ва (genitive singular or special plural “(one’s) word, promise, lyrics”)
- держать сло́во – to keep one’s word (promise)
- Он не дал мне сло́ва. – He didn’t give me a chance to speak (literally “the word”).
- сло́ва песни – the lyrics of a song.

The difference is mainly in stress and context:

слова́ (stress on final -ва́) → usually many words (vocabulary items)
сло́ва (stress on сло́-) → “word” in an abstract sense (promise, speech) or in some set expressions

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly “vocabulary words,” so the plural is слова́ (words), even though we don’t normally mark stress in writing. Context + новые слова (“new words”) makes it unambiguous.