Я потерял билет. Ничего себе! Ну и дела!

Потерял is the past tense, masculine singular form of the verb потерять.

It tells you three things:

• past tense: the action happened in the past
• masculine: the speaker is male
• singular: one person did it

So:

• Я потерял билет = a male speaker says I lost the ticket
• A female speaker would say Я потеряла билет

Russian past tense agrees with the speaker’s gender:

• потерял — masculine
• потеряла — feminine
• потеряло — neuter
• потеряли — plural

Because билет is the direct object of потерял, and for an inanimate masculine noun in the singular, the accusative case is the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: билет
• accusative: билет

That is why you get:

• Я потерял билет

Compare with an animate masculine noun, where accusative usually matches genitive:

• Я вижу брата = I see my brother

But with inanimate nouns like билет, you normally get the same form as nominative.

Yes, very often.

Russian often drops personal pronouns when the meaning is already clear from the verb form or from context. So both are possible:

• Я потерял билет
• Потерял билет

The full version with Я is fine and natural, especially if:

• you want to emphasize I
• you are answering a question
• you want to be especially clear

But in everyday speech, Потерял билет can sound very natural too.

Потерять is a perfective verb. It presents the loss as a completed event: the ticket ended up lost.

That fits English I lost the ticket very well.

Its imperfective partner is терять. Compare:

• Я потерял билет = I lost the ticket / completed event
• Я терял билет = I was losing the ticket or I used to lose the ticket, which usually does not fit this situation

In Russian, when you report a single finished event like this, the perfective verb is usually the natural choice.

Literally, Ничего себе looks something like nothing to oneself / for oneself, which is not helpful if taken word for word.

As a fixed expression, it means something like:

• Wow!
• No way!
• That’s something!
• Seriously?!

It expresses strong surprise, and depending on context it can be:

• positive: Ничего себе! Ты выиграл? = Wow! You won?
• negative: Ничего себе! Я потерял билет. = What?! I lost the ticket!

So it is best learned as a whole idiom, not by translating each word separately.

Not really. In this expression, себе is part of the fixed idiom Ничего себе!

If you try to analyze it word by word, it becomes confusing, because the modern meaning is idiomatic. Native speakers do not normally think of it as a regular sentence built freely each time. They just understand it as an exclamation of surprise.

So for a learner, the best approach is:

• memorize Ничего себе! as one chunk
• do not try too hard to derive its meaning from ничего
  • себе

It is colloquial, but usually not rude.

It is very common in spoken Russian and sounds natural in informal situations. It is stronger and more emotional than neutral speech, but it is not obscene or offensive.

Still, it is best in:

• conversation
• texting
• informal storytelling

In very formal situations, you might choose something calmer.

Ну и дела! is an idiomatic exclamation meaning something like:

• What a mess!
• Well, this is something!
• What’s going on!
• What a situation!

The noun дела is the plural of дело (matter, affair, business, thing going on). In this expression, the plural gives the idea of events / goings-on / circumstances.

So Ну и дела! is not really about literal tasks or business matters. It is an emotional reaction to a surprising, awkward, or absurd situation.

Again, it is best learned as a set phrase.

Ну и is an emphatic conversational pattern.

In exclamations, it often adds a sense like:

• well, what a...
• now that’s...
• what a... indeed

Examples:

• Ну и жара! = What heat! / It’s really hot!
• Ну и день! = What a day!
• Ну и дела! = What a situation!

So in Ну и дела!, ну и makes the reaction more expressive and emotional.

Yes. They can absolutely appear together.

The sentence works like this:

• Я потерял билет. — statement
• Ничего себе! — immediate reaction of surprise
• Ну и дела! — another reaction, often with a feeling of disbelief, frustration, or amazement

Using both makes the speech sound more emotional and natural, especially in spoken language or dramatic storytelling.

A rough effect in English might be:

• I lost the ticket. Wow! What a mess!

A natural pattern would be:

• Я потеря́л биле́т. — normal falling intonation for a statement
• Ничего́ себе́! — strong surprised intonation
• Ну и дела́! — emotional exclamation, usually with stress on -ла́

Stress:

• потеря́л
• биле́т
• ничего́
• себе́
• дела́

Both exclamations are usually said with clear emotion. If you say them flatly, they may sound unnatural.

Either is possible.

They can be:

1. self-reaction

   • someone realizes what happened and says:
   • Я потерял билет. Ничего себе! Ну и дела!

2. another person’s reaction

   • one person says Я потерял билет
   • the other responds Ничего себе! Ну и дела!

Russian often allows this kind of ambiguity in short written examples. In real speech, intonation and context would make it clear.