# ciebie calowac bylo cudownie



## Gorten

Hello everybody!

a polish friend of mine send me a message "ciebie calowac bylo cudownie" and she doesn't want to tell me what it means.
Could you please help me? 

Many thanks
G.


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## Badinfluence

She is more than happy because she could give you a kiss


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## Gorten

She "could give" or "could have given" ? There is a huge difference


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## Badinfluence

According to the sentece the word "bylo"  means it (kiss)  happened.  So she is happy because you did it,  you kissed her and because of this she is now happy


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## wolfbm1

The person wants to say that he or she had/has had a wonderful experience while he or she was kissing you.


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## jasio

Literally it says "it was marvellous to be kissing you".


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## Gorten

Jasio thank you for your reply but  "it was marvellous to be kissing you" is not correct in english. Are you trying to say that the original polish phrase isn't correct?

It should be  "it was marvellous to kiss you" because  "to be kissing you"  will happen in the future!


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## anthox

Gorten said:


> Jasio thank you for your reply but  "it was marvellous to be kissing you" is not correct in english. Are you trying to say that the original polish phrase isn't correct?
> 
> It should be  "it was marvellous to kiss you" because  "to be kissing you"  will happen in the future!



This is incorrect.

For one, jasio's literal Polish translation into English is correct. And there is nothing wrong with the English, although it is somewhat awkward. Since we have "It *was* marvelous to be kissing you," it's clear the action is happening in the past. A better, less literal translation would probably be: "Kissing you was wonderful."


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## Gorten

Apologies... my mistake...! Now the translation is 100% clear for me. Thanks to everybody!

G.


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## jasio

anthox said:


> And there is nothing wrong with the English, although it is somewhat awkward.


It was not intended, albeit the Polish phrase is somewhat awkward as well, perhaps because of limitations of a phone dictionary. I had an impression that using simple past tense could be understood as if they kissed each other only once.



anthox said:


> A better, less literal translation would probably be: "Kissing you was wonderful."


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## anthox

I figured you chose "to be kissing you" since całować is imperfective, as opposed to if the sentence used "pocałować" which might imply that they kissed a single time, yes? So, "ciebie pocałować było cudownie" - "It was wonderful to have kissed you [once]." In English, we could still say "Kissing you was wonderful" for one kiss, since the language doesn't typically include such precision with regard to whether they kissed once, twice, several times over a make-out session, etc.

In my mind, "to be kissing you" actually highlights the moment or act of being engaged in a kiss, rather than suggesting a sequence of kisses.


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## jasio

anthox said:


> I figured you chose "to be kissing you" since całować is imperfective, as opposed to if the sentence used "pocałować" which might imply that they kissed a single time, yes?


Precisely. 



anthox said:


> So, "ciebie pocałować było cudownie" - "It was wonderful to have kissed you [once]."


Thank you. 
Actually, I would naturally say something like "twój pocałunek był cudowny" using a noun, or (with an imperfective gerund) "całowanie się z tobą było cudowne". Perfective "pocałowałem cię" does not sound that passionate. Perhaps one time indeed. I can imagine of being enchanted with it, but it would be a specific situation. Like meeting an old lover perhaps, to whom we still feel something, but we both have our new lives, so we kissed each other just to revive old memories. At least this is what came to my mind, when I thought about using a perfective form in other context than kissing a granny or an auntie good-bye. "Pocałowałem babcię na pożegnanie" is quite natural. "Całowałem babcię na pożegnanie" sounds strange. At the least. 



anthox said:


> In English, we could still say "Kissing you was wonderful" for one kiss, since the language doesn't typically include such precision with regard to whether they kissed once, twice, several times over a make-out session, etc.


That's exactly why we, Poles and other Slavics, tend to overuse continuous tenses. We miss the aspects, and too often the phrases seem to be incomplete without them. ;-)



anthox said:


> In my mind, "to be kissing you" actually highlights the moment or act of being engaged in a kiss, rather than suggesting a sequence of kisses.


 Actually this was exactly what I wanted to express - even, if my specific wording sounded somewhat awkward.
And this is also why an imperfective verb is used in such situations in Polish: it expresses a strong focus on the sole act of kissing, while a perfective verb would disregard it to some extent and turn the attention to the aftermath or to the overall context.
And yes.... imperfective verb does not imply that there was more than once either. However it was memorable enough that we're talking about the act itself. A perfect date, so to say.


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## zaffy

1. 





anthox said:


> "It was wonderful to have kissed you.



Does this structure suggest a single kiss or could it be a sequence of kisses as well?


2. 'It was wonderful to kiss you'. vs. 'It was wonderful to have kissed you'. These two mean exactly the same with the perfect infinitive being more natural?


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## anthox

zaffy said:


> 1.
> 
> Does this structure suggest a single kiss or could it be a sequence of kisses as well?
> 
> 
> 2. 'It was wonderful to kiss you'. vs. 'It was wonderful to have kissed you'. These two mean exactly the same with the perfect infinitive being more natural?



None of these phrases is explicitly clear as to whether one kissed occurred, or multiple kisses, but I would expect either one (potentially long) kiss, or a brief moment with some start-and-stop kissing. If kissing went on for a long time, along with fondling, etc. bordering on sexual behavior, the term would be "making out." 

As for 2, I'd say they do both mean exactly the same thing. The second one just slightly emphasizes the time aspect ('reflecting back on it, it feels wonderful that I've kissed you'). Whereas the first sentence leaves time out of it and just highlights the kissing act. The more I turn these phrases over in my head, I feel like the most natural way of saying this would just be, "Kissing you was wonderful." But both examples in (2) are possible.


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## haes

Let's cut it short - it means that after nice evening you had a chance for a night with breakfast


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