Breakdown of Её настойчивость всех удивляет.
удивлять
to surprise
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
её
her (possessive)
настойчивость
persistence
Questions & Answers about Её настойчивость всех удивляет.
Since this lesson is about всё-таки (nevertheless), how would I add it to this sentence to say her persistence surprises everyone nevertheless?
You could place it right after the subject or before the verb. A very natural spot would be Её настойчивость всё-таки всех удивляет (or you could use всё же). This implies that despite some prior context, such as her failing many times before, her persistence still manages to surprise everyone.
Why is всех placed before the verb удивляет instead of after it?
In Russian, placing the object before the verb is common, especially with short pronouns like всех (everyone) or меня (me). It makes the sentence flow more naturally and puts a slight focus on the action itself. Saying Её настойчивость удивляет всех is also perfectly correct but places slightly more emphatic stress on the word for everyone at the end of the sentence.
Is всех in the genitive or accusative case here?
It is in the accusative case. The verb удивлять (to surprise) requires a direct object in the accusative case because you are surprising someone. Because the pronoun все (everyone) is animate, its accusative form matches its genitive form, making it всех.
Why use the imperfective verb удивляет instead of a perfective form?
The imperfective удивляет is used because it describes a general, ongoing state or a repeated reaction. Her persistence is an ongoing trait that continually causes this reaction. If you wanted to describe a single, completed event where she surprised everyone at a specific moment, you would use the perfective past tense and say Её настойчивость всех удивила.
I know настойчивость means persistence, but what gender is it and how does it decline?
Like almost all Russian abstract nouns ending in -ость, настойчивость is feminine. It declines like a standard third-declension feminine noun (such as тетрадь or ночь). This means it ends in -и for the genitive, dative, and prepositional cases, and it takes -ью in the instrumental case to become настойчивостью.
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