Любить/полюбить
One of the verbs that means to love is:
Imperfective | Perfective | |
Infinitive | любить | полюбить |
Past | любил любила любило любили |
полюбил полюбила полюбило полюбили |
Present | люблю любишь любит любим любите любят |
No such thing as perfective present in Russian. |
Future |
буду любить будешь любить будет любить будем любить будете любить будут любить |
полюблю полюбишь полюбит полюбим полюбите полюбят |
Imperative | люби(те) | полюби(те) |
When you use the imperfective, it means the subject has an established liking for the direct object, and it can be translated as like or love:
Моя бабушка любила шоколад. | My grandmother loved chocolate. |
— Ты любишь кофе? — Да, люблю. |
“Do you like coffee?” “Yes, I do.” |
The verb can also be complemented by the infinitive:
Мой брат любит кататься на лыжах. | My brother loves downhill skiing. |
Я люблю играть на гитаре. | I love to play the guitar. |
The prefix по- often adds the idea of ‘start to,’ and that applies to this verb. In English the equivalent of ‘start to love’ is ‘fall in love with’:
В прошлом году я так полюбил Казань. | Last year I simply fell in love with Kazan. |
По-моему, ты полюбишь Париж. Город такой замечательный. | I think you will fall in love with Paris. The city is so amazing. |
3 comments
Well,if you are really going for present, you may use “Похоже, я начинаю влюбляться” for “I guess, I’m falling in love with you", emphasizing the start of the process. Still, not the way a Russian is likely to word his/her ideas.
Though, it would be much easier if you undestoodd “полюбить” as “to come to love". “I’m coming to love you” doesn’t sound that good in English, does it?
With no present perfective, is there no simple way to say “I am falling in love with you"?
Don responds: None that I know of. Tomorrow we will discuss the verb влюбляться/влюбиться, which means ‘to fall in love’ as well, but even with that verb I think a Russian would more likely use a simple past perfective, i.e., ‘I have fallen in love with you.’ The perfective in Russian indicates a result already achieved. A switch in emotion is such a result. Now that I think about it, your question may inspire a part two to the discussion of that verb.
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