Cold weather phrases to see you through winter

With winter in full swing, we thought we’d throw a few Russian sayings to describe winter weather.

On the contrary, for a bad weather, or literally, a no-fly weather, say нелетная погода.

It is a stronger expression than just saying мне холодно (I am cold) and literally means I am frozen.

If it is really, really cold and you are really really unhappy about it, you could say

холод собачий, which literally translates as dog’s cold.The logic behind it, probably, is that it is so cold that even a dog would freeze!

Снегопад meaning ‘snowfall’, comes from the noun for snow, sneg (снег) and the root pad– (пад), meaning ‘fall’. But don’t let that fool you. In Russian, snow doesn’t fall – it ’goes’. Better, then, to ask: idiot li sneg? (идет ли снег?) oris the snow going?

If snow and sub-zero temperatures don’t put you off and you’re up for good old winter fun, then  кататься is the word to learn!

кататься is a wonderful verb that, by itself, is sometimes translated as ‘go for a drive’ – often on horseback (кататься на лошади). You can also pair кататься up with a couple of nouns for some useful winter sports vocabulary:

• кататься на лыжах means ‘to ski’ – literally ‘ride on skis’,
• кататься на коньках means ‘to skate’.
• And while ‘bobsleigh’ in Russian may be бобслей, you can at least use кататься to describe the event itself: кататься с гор is often translated as ‘to toboggan’ (literally: ride from a mountain).

If you’re eager to learn more authentic Russian vocab for conversing with natives, give  The Belka a try and check out our other blogs here.