Капуста

by Don  

The Russian word for cabbage is капуста. It is a perfectly regular feminine noun that declines like this:

SgPl
Nomкапустакапусты
Accкапусту
Genкапустыкапуст
Preкапустекапустах
Datкапустам
Insкапустойкапустами

Russian families eat cabbage all the time, so you can often come across phrases like this:

— Ты любишь капусту?
— Да, очень.
“Do you like cabbage?”
“Yes, I like it a lot.”
— Хочешь ещё капусты?
— Да, пожалуйста.
“Do you want some more cabbage?”
“Yes, please.”
— С чем пирожки?
— С капустой.
“What kind of pirozhki are these?”
“Cabbage.”
Древние римляне очень бережно относились к капусте. (source) The ancient Romans had great respect for cabbage.
Купи два кочана капусты. Buy two heads of cabbage.

The Russians eat cabbage ten thousand ways. The Russian version of sauerkraut is called квашеная капуста, literally “fermented cabbage.” If you wrap the leaves around meat and rice and then steam them, then they are called голубцы. If you turn it into soup, it is called щи. If you add beets to the soup, you end up with борщ. If you put it on your head with mayonaisse, it is an aid to logical thinking.

Okay, I made that last bit up, but I really do love cabbage nowadays. If you have never developed the habit of eating it, take a quick trip to Russia where they know how to cook it right.

6 comments

Comment from: Original [Visitor]

Капуста, in Russia, nowadays, means money, in 90% of the situation cash. This term in it’s figurative sense - money, is used also, in a lot of post soviet countries such as Moldova.

05/31/13 @ 02:42
Comment from: Artyom [Visitor]

Never did капуста mean dollars; only money in general.

Dollars were referred to as зелёные, баксы, and in cash smugglers spheres as “первый номер” – Number One, as the most widely spread and most important currency; also, German MArk was called Второй номер – Number Two.

01/21/13 @ 07:49
Comment from: katya [Visitor]

Kapusta didn’t mean just money, it meant dollars 10-15 years ago. Dollars is green, kapusta is green. For many years just $, now when the “iron curtain” is open, any kind of money.

12/10/12 @ 16:31
Comment from: David Emerling [Visitor]  

I found the following construction odd:
— С чем пирожки?
— С капустой.

Doesn’t this mean something closer to “What are you having with the pirozhki?”

Does this sentence make sense: “Какие это пирожки?” That’s how I would have said it, but then again - I’m a Russian speaking neophyte. :)

Don responds: «С чем пирожки?» normally means “What kind of filling do the pirozhki have?” It’s grammatically possible to say «Какие это пирожки?», but the other phrase is more common.

09/08/11 @ 21:00
Comment from: Leonid [Visitor]

Yes, капуста is slang for cash. However, it is just one of the slang words for money. Russians use a lot of other names. The exact choice of a word depends on the social background of the speaker and on a situation too.

09/08/11 @ 19:32
Comment from: Sean [Visitor]

A Russian friend of mine told me that капуста is slang for cash, similar to how cabbage is slang for cash in the UK.

08/22/11 @ 08:11


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