Learn Russian: Не всякий инструмент подойдёт для этого, но ты можешь использовать любой камень. - Not every sort of tool will do for this, but you can use any stone.

Не всякий инструмент подойдёт для этого, но ты можешь использовать любой камень.

Not every sort of tool will do for this, but you can use any stone.

Breakdown of Не всякий инструмент подойдёт для этого, но ты можешь использовать любой камень.

Questions & Answers about Не всякий инструмент подойдёт для этого, но ты можешь использовать любой камень.

Why does the sentence use всякий for the tool, but любой for the stone?

The word всякий often implies "every sort or kind of", while любой means "absolutely any (take your pick, it doesn't matter)". Here, не всякий implies that you need a tool with specific qualities, so "not just any sort of tool will do". In contrast, любой камень means literally any stone you happen to find will work perfectly fine.

Could we say не любой инструмент instead of не всякий инструмент?

It sounds much less natural. In Russian, не всякий is the standard, idiomatic way to say "not every kind" when restricting a category. Любой is almost never negated directly because its core meaning is "any whatsoever," so saying "not any whatsoever" clashes logically. You will almost always see не всякий or не каждый used for this purpose instead.

Why is подойдёт translated as "will do" here instead of "will approach"?

The verb подойти (perfective of подходить) literally means "to step towards" or "to approach", but it has a very common figurative meaning: "to suit", "to fit", or "to be appropriate". When paired with the preposition для and the genitive case (like для этого), it specifically means "will work for this" or "will do for this".

Is the verb использовать imperfective or perfective in this sentence?