kind of (do something)

"Kind of" means "a little" or "somewhat". All of these words are most commonly used before an adjective:

I feel kind of obligated to go.

You look a little sick. Are you OK?

It's somewhat smaller than I thought it would be.

But only "kind of" sounds right before a verb, and only in casual conversation:

I kind of wanted to go with them.

People sometimes pronounce "kind of" in a way that sounds like "kinda".

take (someone) by surprise

This means to surprise someone. It's actually more common to use this expression than to say "it surprised me".