Any sort of vs every (всякий, каждый)

When sorting through old boxes or clearing out a room, you will inevitably find things to keep and things to set aside for later.

I decided to sort out the old junk in the attic.
Я решил разобрать старый хлам на чердаке.
I will set aside this unexpected find.
Я отложу эту неожиданную находку.

"Every" vs "Any": Каждый, Любой, and Всякий

English often uses "any" or "every" quite broadly, but Russian divides these universal concepts into three distinct pronouns based on exact meaning:

  • каждый (every, each): Points to individual items in a complete set, one by one.
  • любой (any): Implies absolute free choice ("any one you like", "whichever").
  • всякий (all sorts of, all manner of, any kind of): Emphasizes variety, diversity, or a mixed bag of things.

Here is каждый focusing on individual items:

You need to sort the things: every detail is important.
Тебе нужно сортировать вещи: важна каждая деталь.
Every find might come in handy for us.
Каждая находка может нам пригодиться.

Using Всякий

When you encounter a wide, unexpected variety of things—like sorting through a messy attic—всякий is the perfect word. It highlights that the items are diverse in nature, translating best to "all sorts of" or "all manner of".

In the basement there lies all manner of junk.
В подвале лежит всякий хлам.
We found all sorts of unexpected things there!
Мы нашли там всякие неожиданные вещи!

Notice how these pronouns often work together in a single context. You might have to process every single container (каждый), only to find all manner of diverse junk inside (всякий):

You must sort every box, there is all manner of junk here.
Ты должен сортировать каждую коробку, здесь всякий хлам.
He sorts out all manner of papers every day.
Он каждый день разбирает всякие бумаги.
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