love

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Kingfisher on August 13, 2009 at 12:39am

bises et bisous

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 13, 2009 at 9:54am

Hello Wendy,

"hugs" is "câlins".

And as stated by Pam, "kisses" is either "bises", "bisous" and "baisers".

"bises" is more formal than "bisous". If you meet (or write to) someone for the first time, unless you hit it off immediately, you should say "bises". Then, you might switch to "bisous".
It's similar to the difference between "hello" and "hi" ("bonjour" and "salut").

From a practical point of view, a "bise" is always on the cheek (or even on the hand). A "bisou" can be anywhere, including the cheek. But it doesn't imply any intimate relationship. For instance, you can say "bisous" to relatives, friends and colleagues.

Un baiser (plural: des baisers) is mostly a synonym for "bises". It's even more formal and nowadays it often has a virtual connotation. It's not a very common word.

Beware of "câlins". According to the region and the context, it can either mean kisses, hugs or sexual activity. I learned it the hard way. As a rule of thumb, never use it except with persons you already have an intimate relationship with.

If you want to end a letter with something like "love and kisses", you can use Gros bisous or Je t'embrasse (the second one is a bit more formal). You can also use these in order to end a phone call. But we rarely use them in speech. Just because action speaks louder than words :)

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