Carrots! No sticks!

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Usage questions about морковь.

One English-Russian dictionary defines the word морковь as meaning "carrots (collectively)." I'm guessing that they mean it's a mass noun, like "bread" in English. It seems to indicate that there's no plural, although that just may be because it's not an exhaustive dictionary.

Another dictionary lists морковь as both "carrots" and "a single carrot" and has no special notes about its usage other than that it's feminine.

Does this word have plural forms?

Is it just context that tells you whether you mean carrots as a whole or a single carrot, or is the word inflected/used differently?

How would you say that you need to buy three carrots?

Edit: Thanks, everyone!

Comments

[diablo-chan.livejournal.com]

We use diminutive form of the word морковь - морковка. It can be plural - Одна морковка. Две морковки.

[korica.livejournal.com]

Морковь, три штуки, пожалуйста. :))
Три моркови.

[ohar.livejournal.com]

There is no strong differs, but usually морковь means "a carrot" or "a carrots", and морковка means "the carrot".

[racoonbear.livejournal.com]

In our family we always say "три морковины", "пять морковин".

[pigmeich.livejournal.com]

It is just another f. uncountable noun, which term you should be taught in school.

On multiple forms, there is three I acknowledged: `морковь', `морква', `морковка'. All these have essentially the same grammar.

And yeah, we use diminutive form more recently.

[arashi-opera.livejournal.com]

"Три морковки". That's probably the most widespread version.

[russianvoodoo.livejournal.com]

+++

[russtam.livejournal.com]

Agree.

[nodarius.livejournal.com]

Indeed so

[malinguo.livejournal.com]

Like any mass noun, морковь and хлеб can be pluralized in the right context. Хлебá is the plural of хлеб, and it would be used in the same context as "breads"--for example, "хлеба на квасе." You wouldn't say "I bought two breads" in English, either, after all--it's much more typical to use "loaves of bread", no?

As for carrots, I would say морковки if I need to refer to several of them.

There is a more general story here for mass nouns. For example, горох is a mass noun, and if you want to refer to a few peas, it's горошины (пять горошин, for example). Likewise, several grains of rice would be рисины or more probably рисинки.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Would "хлеба" typically refer to more than one type of bread, then? That would be what "breads" typically means in English.

Thank you for your explanation, btw. It's very helpful.

[malinguo.livejournal.com]

Always happy to help!

Right--хлебá refers to several kinds of bread, not several loaves of bread. At least in modern usage you wouldn't use it to refer to several loaves of bread. In fact, confusingly enough, you wouldn't say "Я купил несколько хлебов" even if you mean "I bought several loaves of different kinds of bread." But here again, I think, English and Russian usage do not differ that much.

[orie.livejournal.com]

Морковь sounds too bookish to me. I use морковка as a collective noun (мне нужно купить морковку - I need to buy SOME carrots). For a single carrot I use морковина

[zwilling.livejournal.com]

I have always thought 'хлеба' is used when speaking about corn fields: 'хлеба заколосились', 'хлеба стоят стеной'.