Мороженое
The generic word for ice cream in Russian is мороженое. In form it is declined like a neuter adjective, although they use it as a noun. Theoretically the plural forms exist, though I have not personally encountered them yet:
Sg | Pl | |
Nom | мороженое | мороженые |
Acc | ||
Gen | мороженого | мороженых |
Pre | мороженом | |
Dat | мороженому | мороженым |
Ins | мороженым | морожеными |
We Americans have all heard stories of those crazy Russians buying ice cream in the dead of winter. During my first trip to Moscow in 1986, I asked my acquaintance Алёша about that:
— Правда ли, что русские стоят в очереди за мороженым даже зимой, когда на улице минус десять градусов? | "Is it true that Russians will stand in line for ice cream even in the winter when it's ten below outside?" |
— Правда. | "It's true." |
— Но почему же? Ведь так холодно! | "Why in the world? I mean it's so cold!" |
— Потому что вкусно. | "Because it tastes good." |
Oh. Well, ask a stupid question...
![]() |
During the Soviet period you could mostly buy vanilla ice cream, although ice cream with a chocolate coating (эскимо) was commonly available as well. Occasionally you would see chocolate or strawberry. Nowadays they have all sorts of flavors and toppings. I had a crème brûlée (крем-брюле) ice cream the other day that was wonderful. Here are a few sample sentences: |
— Хочешь мороженое? — Хочу. |
"Do you want ice cream?" "I do." |
На десерт мы заказали блинчики с мороженым. | For dessert we ordered crepes with ice cream. |
Без мороженого я не могу жить. Я его ем каждый день. | I can't live without ice cream. I eat it every day. |
Мама всегда добавляет орешки в домашнее мороженое. | Mom always adds nuts to her homemade ice cream. |
Although мороженое is a generic word for ice cream, there is another word you have to know nowadays to be ice-cream-competent in Russia. I'll blog about it in a week or so. Your assignment: take your best guess what that word is and post it in the comment section.
3 comments
Glad you’re ok Don :)
Beware of н in мороженое. There’s a tendency to write double н - мороженное, but that’s not correct.
Form is loading...