Куда бы мы ни ехали, нам всегда хочется найти тихое место, где хорошо работается и отдыхается.

Literally, Куда бы мы ни ехали is:

• куда – where (to)
• бы – particle that helps form a subjunctive / hypothetical mood
• мы – we
• ни – an emphasizing particle, roughly “ever / no matter”
• ехали – (we) went / were going (past tense of ехать, “to go by vehicle”)

So very literally: “Where (to) we would not go (by vehicle)”.

Natural English translation: “Wherever we go (by car / by transport)” or “No matter where we go”.

In Russian, the “subjunctive” or hypothetical meaning is usually formed by:

• past tense of the verb
• plus the particle бы

This doesn’t indicate real past time; it indicates an unreal / hypothetical or general condition.

So мы ехали by itself = “we were going / we went”.
But мы бы ехали = “we would go / we would be going”.

In constructions like куда бы мы ни ехали, the past tense + бы gives a meaning like “wherever we may go / wherever we go”, not specifically in the past. It’s more about the mood than about time.

Бы is a particle that forms the subjunctive / conditional mood together with a past-tense verb. It often corresponds loosely to “would / may / might” or indicates “no matter …” in English.

In patterns like:

• что бы ни случилось – no matter what happens
• где бы ты ни был – wherever you are
• куда бы мы ни ехали – wherever we go (by transport)

Бы is not translated by itself; it’s part of the whole structure expressing “no matter where / whatever / wherever”.

Ни here is not a simple negation like не. In this construction it is an emphasizing particle used with question words (куда, где, когда, кто, что, какой, etc.) and бы to mean “ever” / “no matter”.

Patterns:

• что бы ни произошло – whatever happens / no matter what happens
• где бы он ни жил – wherever he lives / no matter where he lives
• куда бы мы ни ехали – wherever we go / no matter where we go

You can think of куда бы ни roughly as “wherever”, with ни giving the “-ever / no matter” sense; it’s not straightforward negation like не.

Russian distinguishes between motion and location:

• куда = where to, direction / destination (motion)
• где = where (at), place / location (no movement)

So:

• Куда бы мы ни ехали – talks about where we are going (to).
• где хорошо работается и отдыхается – describes a place where it is pleasant to work and rest (we’re already there, not moving).

In English both usually become “where”, but in Russian you must choose куда for movement and где for being in a place.

Both can express “we want”, but they differ in structure and nuance.

• Мы всегда хотим найти тихое место…
  – literally: “We always want to find a quiet place…”
  – personal verb: subject мы, verb хотим.

• Нам всегда хочется найти тихое место…
  – literally: “To us it always feels like (we want) to find a quiet place…”
  – impersonal construction: experiencer in dative (нам), verb хочется.

Nuances of хочется:

1. It’s softer and more impersonal, often closer to “we feel like…” / “we have the desire to…”, a bit less direct than мы хотим.
2. It can sound more natural and neutral in many contexts, especially for spontaneous or emotional wants.

So нам всегда хочется here suggests a more general, slightly emotional tendency: “we always feel like finding a quiet place”.

Хочется is the 3rd person singular impersonal form of the reflexive verb хотеться (“to feel like, to have a desire”).

• Base verb: хотеть – to want (personal: я хочу, мы хотим).
• Reflexive/impersonal: хотеться – to feel like (impersonal: мне хочется, нам хочется).

The -ся ending marks it as reflexive / impersonal. In the structure:

• кому? (dative) + хочется
  • infinitive

we express “someone feels like doing something”:

• Мне хочется спать. – I feel like sleeping.
• Нам хочется найти тихое место. – We feel like finding a quiet place.

So хочется is an impersonal verb; there is no grammatical subject like “it”. The person who has the desire is in the dative (нам, мне, ему, etc.).

Тихое место is the direct object of the verb найти (“to find”).

• найти (что?) тихое место

Место is a neuter noun. In the singular, nominative and accusative forms of neuter nouns are the same:

• Nominative: тихое место – a quiet place (as subject: Тихое место есть.)
• Accusative: тихое место – a quiet place (as object: Мы нашли тихое место.)

So the form looks identical, but its function (object of “to find”) is accusative.

Работается and отдыхается are impersonal reflexive verb forms:

• работать – to work
  → работаться – to work (for someone) in an impersonal sense, “it (feels / goes) working”
• отдыхать – to rest
  → отдыхаться – to rest (in an impersonal sense)

In где хорошо работается и отдыхается, there is no grammatical subject (no “I / we / people”). Instead, Russian uses these impersonal reflexive forms to describe how easy / pleasant / comfortable it is to do something in given conditions.

Typical pattern:

• Здесь мне хорошо работается. – I work well here / It’s easy to work here.
• Там отлично отдыхается. – It’s great to rest there.

So хорошо работается и отдыхается means roughly:

• “it is pleasant / easy to work and rest (there)”
• “it’s a good place for working and relaxing”

The -ся ending signals this impersonal, “it-works/it-rests” type meaning.

Both are grammatical, but there is a nuance:

1. где хорошо работать и отдыхать
   – uses infinitives работать, отдыхать (“to work, to rest”).
   – Focuses more on the possibility or suitability:
   “where it is good to work and rest.”

2. где хорошо работается и отдыхается
   – uses impersonal reflexive forms.
   – Emphasizes the felt experience: how easy / pleasant / naturally it goes:
   “where it feels good to work and rest / where working and resting go well.”

The version with работается / отдыхается sounds a bit more emotional / experiential, describing the atmosphere. The infinitive version is a bit more neutral and objective.

The sentence has a subordinate clause followed by a main clause:

• Subordinate (concessive / conditional):
  Куда бы мы ни ехали,
• Main clause:
  нам всегда хочется найти тихое место, где хорошо работается и отдыхается.

In Russian, subordinate clauses introduced by words like куда, когда, если, потому что, хотя, etc., are normally separated from the main clause by a comma.

Here Куда бы мы ни ехали = “No matter where we go”, so a comma is required before the main statement нам всегда хочется….

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, but the neutral and most natural order here is:

• Нам всегда хочется найти тихое место…

Other possibilities:

1. Всегда нам хочется найти тихое место…
   – Possible, but the emphasis shifts to всегда (“always”).
   – Sounds more expressive, like: “It’s always that we feel like finding a quiet place…”

2. Нам хочется всегда найти тихое место…
   – Technically possible, but can sound a bit awkward or ambiguous, as if “always” belongs to найти (“to always find”), not to the feeling itself.

So:

• To keep the natural, neutral tone: нам всегда хочется найти…
• To strongly stress “always”, you might front всегда: Всегда нам хочется…

Both forms are possible; they differ in aspect and nuance:

• ехать – imperfective, “to go (be going) by transport”
  → куда бы мы ни ехали – slightly more about the process / general action:
  “wherever we (might) be going.”

• поехать – perfective, “to set off / go (once) by transport”
  → куда бы мы ни поехали – often feels more natural when talking about any trip we might take:
  “wherever we may go (whenever we set off somewhere).”

In many contexts, куда бы мы ни поехали would be more idiomatic if you mean any single trips we take.
Куда бы мы ни ехали is still acceptable and understandable, with a slightly more process-oriented flavor.

In Russian impersonal constructions like хорошо работается и отдыхается, the doer is usually understood from context, or can be “people in general”.

In the full sentence:

• Нам всегда хочется найти тихое место, где хорошо работается и отдыхается.

The нам in the main clause already tells us who is interested in that quiet place. It’s natural to understand that it is good for us to work and rest there, even though нам is not repeated.

If you wanted to specify it explicitly, you could say:

• где нам хорошо работается и отдыхается – where we feel good working and resting

But in many cases Russian omits it, and the generic / contextual reading is normal.