How would you say 'one raspberry' or 'two raspberries' in Russian?

Question

I checked on Wiktionary and apparently 'малина' means:

1 (uncountable, collectively) raspberries (fruit)

2 (uncountable) raspberry (plant)

If both forms are uncountable, then surely you can't change them according to number... so saying 'one' or 'two' raspberries is impossible. I had an idea that you could write две малиновые ягоды (two raspberry berries) but that seems a little wordy. Any ideas for how you might write this? Do any other nouns have this uncountability?

(As a matter of interest, how would you say two raspberry plants, as the usage of the term to mean 'plant' is also uncountable?)

Thanks so much for any help

Answer 1

«Малиновый» is often understood to mean colour; a less ambiguous way to say "two raspberries" whould be «две ягоды малины».

Informally you could also say «одна малинка», «две малинки». This, by the way, may or may not apply to other berries: «одна смородинка» for a currant, but «одна клубничина» for a strawberry. I assume this is ruled by euphony, not morphology.

When speaking about plants, you would say «два куста малины». It's also OK to say «малиновый куст», as in this case it's unlikely to refer to the colour of the plant.

Answer 2

"одна ягода малины" - the formal and neutral way to say.
"малИнина", or better, "малИнинка" - are informal. Викисловарь

And don't forget, that you can make an informal expression out of neutral, saying: "одна ягодка малины".

And in practically every situation, you know, what kind of berries is spoken about, so "одна ягодка" - is absolutely enough. And, in 99% of cases, sounds more natural.

Answer 3

Одна малинка, две малинки. And don't tell me dictionaries say it's wrong, it's used regardless. I can't even say it's colloquial.

Answer 4

the best way to say it "одна малинка", "две малинки" for raspberries "одна клубника"" две клубники/клубнички" for strawberries So the best way is to use suffix)

Answer 5

Okay, it's a simple and a hard question at once. Russian is my native language, so I'll try to tell you as I understand this.

@Gangnus gave you a nice example: "две ягоды малины". You can also say: "два куста малины". This will mean two bushes of raspberry.

Of course, you can use: "Две малинки", not "две малининки", but IMO it would sound a little childish.

Other answers also have good examples, like "две ягодки", etc.

Hope my answer will help you. =)