# suudella



## akana

Silly question, but it occurred to me that, since "suudella" is in the frequentative aspect, would it be used more so to mean a long passionate kiss (in English, "to make out"), rather than a quick smooch? And if so, what word would be used for a quick peck?


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## reamary

I think it can actually be used for both. Perhaps more often to mean "a long passionate kiss" though. But there's also an expression "_suudella kättä_", in which you just give a kiss on someone's hand. But for a quick peck one would perhaps rather say "_antaa pusu/suukko_". 
For making out, there's also an expression "_pussailla_", which I think is actually used quite often in that context (though it's a more informal expression).


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## sakvaka

I also think there's a semantic distinction between _suudelma_ (more serious, more passionate, more "adult-like") and _pusu_ (less serious, less passionate, briefer, more "pre-teen like"). The distinction played a rather important role eg. in the old translation of _The Little Mermaid_, the Disney movie, as illustrated in this line:

_Suudelma, ei pusua._ 
(original: [That's it, he's got to kiss you.] *Not just any kiss, the kiss of true love*)

However, I also claim that the same distinction applies to the word pair _suudella - pussata (freq. pussailla_).


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## Marsario

Just out of curiosity, pussata sounds like a loan word, can it eventually come from Swedish?


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## Hakro

You're right, Marsario, it comes from Swedish (pussa = to kiss).


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## Marsario

Ahaha, of course! What an easy language Finnish is! ...


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