Любить/полюбить

by Don  

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

Comment from: MMM [Visitor]  

You can say “Я в тебя влюбляюсь".

02/07/14 @ 03:29
Comment from: Shady_arc [Visitor]

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?

02/21/12 @ 16:00
Comment from: Вадим [Visitor]

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.

02/21/12 @ 08:08


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