Learn Russian: Во время раскопок палеонтологи обнаружили гигантский скелет. - During the excavations, the paleontologists discovered a gigantic skeleton.

Во время раскопок палеонтологи обнаружили гигантский скелет.

During the excavations, the paleontologists discovered a gigantic skeleton.

Breakdown of Во время раскопок палеонтологи обнаружили гигантский скелет.

Questions & Answers about Во время раскопок палеонтологи обнаружили гигантский скелет.

Why is раскопок used here, and what is its dictionary form?

The dictionary form is раскопки (excavations), a noun that is almost exclusively used in the plural. Here it is in the genitive case because the prepositional phrase во время (during) always requires the genitive. To form the genitive plural, the word drops the ending -и and inserts a fleeting о to break up the final consonant cluster, resulting in раскопок.

Could we use нашли instead of обнаружили here?

Yes, but обнаружили (from обнаружить) is a much better fit for this context. While найти simply means "to find," обнаружить carries the more formal or scientific nuance of "to discover," "to detect," or "to bring to light" something that was previously hidden.

Is скелет considered animate or inanimate in Russian grammar?

Even though it represents the remains of a living creature, скелет is grammatically inanimate in its direct meaning. Because it is the direct object of the verb обнаружили, it is in the accusative case. Since it is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form (скелет).

Is the т in гигантский pronounced?