Breakdown of Мы нашли там всякие неожиданные вещи!
там
there
мы
we
вещь
thing
найти
to find
неожиданный
unexpected
всякий
any sort of
Questions & Answers about Мы нашли там всякие неожиданные вещи!
Why use всякие here? Could I say каждые or все instead?
Всякие here focuses on variety, meaning "all sorts of" or "various kinds of." If you used все, it would mean you found all the unexpected things that existed there (a specific, complete group). Каждые (every) wouldn't work here at all, because it singles out individual items in a sequence or set, rather than describing a messy variety of things.
Does using всякие like this sound formal?
Not at all, it feels very natural and conversational. Using всякие in the plural to mean "all kinds of stuff" or "this and that" is a highly common way in spoken Russian to emphasize a wide variety without having to list specific items.
Are the words всякие неожиданные вещи in the nominative case here?
No, they are in the accusative case because they are the direct object of the verb нашли (found). Because вещи (things) is an inanimate noun, its plural accusative form is identical to its nominative form. The modifiers всякие and неожиданные follow this same rule and copy the nominative-looking ending.
How is the word неожиданные (unexpected) formed?
It is built on the root жд- from ждать (to wait). Adding the prefix о- creates the verb ожидать (to expect). The suffix -анн- turns it into an adjective meaning "expected", and adding the negative prefix не- gives us неожиданные (unexpected).
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