# Ways to Say Love in Different Languages: From Spanish "Amor" to Vietnamese "Yêu" > Discover 10+ ways to say "I love you" in different languages! Learn how to express your feelings in Spanish, Mandarin, and more. Perfect for any romantic lover! **URL:** https://migaku.com/blog/language-fun/i-love-you-in-10-languages **Last Updated:** 2025-03-07 **Tags:** listicle --- Love is a universal feeling, but it’s not a universal word. Naturally, each language has their own way of translating love, and they're not all as simple as just saying you love someone. It's kinda interesting, when you start peeking at the details of what's actually being said. This article will be short and sweet—we'll look at the things people say when they talk about love in ten different languages, and then be on our way. On the off chance that you're here for a specific language: --- ## ❤️ A note about English speakers' love for the word "love" Before we jump into the translations, we need to ask ourselves an important question: Alright, that was dumb. But, _really_, though. Consider this: - In English, we say that a serious rainstorm is "heavy" - In Mandarin, they say it's "big" (雨下得很大, yu3 xia4 de5 hen3 da4) - In Russian, they say it's "strong" (Идет сильный дождь., Idet sil'nyy dozhd'.) It's not that Mandarin or Russian doesn't have a word for "heavy"—they do—they just don't use that word to describe getting violently excessive amounts of rain. They have the same _idea_, but they express it with different _words_. > If translating something simple like "rain" isn't straightforward, how much more complex must it be to translate something like "love"? If you're not convinced, let's look at this from a different direction. While I love my mom, I also love: - Jay, my best friend since childhood - My cat - Two-for-one day at Starbucks - The "send website to clipboard" feature a colleague recently added to Migaku _(super OP if you regularly read on your phone)_ - The Arabic numeral system _(context: feeling a little shellshocked after seeing a menu at a traditional Taiwanese restaurant)_ - Milk tea Speakers of other languages might look at that list of things and be confused: if "love" refers to the emotion I feel toward my mother, how could the same word possibly be used to refer to the way you feel about a cheap inanimate object? Basically, we're about to give you words for love in a bunch of languages... but you should know that this is just a start. Some languages may indeed have a word for love, but don't use it in all the same situations we do in English. As such: > If you really want to learn to say "I love you" correctly in another language, you'll need to spend a lot of time interacting with that language—watching TV, reading books, etc. _That's_ how you'll learn how speakers of your target language view the concept of love, how they put it into words, and when/how often they do so. Anyway, there's my soapbox! Let's get to the love. --- ## 💖 How to say love in different languages Ten, to be specific. ## 1. Love in Cantonese — 愛 (oi3) 📌 Nuance: Used for deep love but less common in everyday speech. 🗣 Examples: - 我愛你。(ngo5 oi3 nei5.)
I love you. - 佢哋之間有真愛。(keoi5 dei6 zi1 gaan1 jau5 zan1 oi3.)
They have true love. 💡 Insight: Cantonese speakers often express love indirectly through actions or with less intense phrases like 我鍾意你 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 nei5, "I like you") . One person, in a moment of passion, telling their partner that they love them --- ## 2. Love in Mandarin Chinese – 爱 (ài) 📌 Nuance: Strong romantic love, but many Chinese speakers prefer softer expressions. 🗣 Examples: - 我爱你。(Wǒ ài nǐ.)
I love you. - 他们的爱情很感人。(Tāmen de àiqíng hěn gǎnrén.)
Their love is touching/moving. 💡 Insight: Mandarin speakers often use 喜欢 (xǐhuan, to like) in daily life instead of directly saying 我爱你. The host of a late-night show informs another guest that he loves them. The third guest is shocked. --- ## 3. Love in English – Love 📌 Nuance: English has one word for love, but it can be used very broadly, for everything from romance and family to hobbies and food. 🗣 Examples: - I love you. - She has a deep love for music. 💡 Insight: English speakers use “love” freely, sometimes even for things like “Dude, I love pizza” . A child telling her uncle that she loves him --- ## 4. Love in French – (La) Amour 📌 Nuance: The language of romance, supposedly! Amour (noun) and aimer (verb) cover love, but aimer can also mean "to like." 🗣 Examples: - Je t’aime.
I love you. - Leur amour est éternel.
Their love is eternal. - J'aime le thé au lait.
I like milk tea.  💡 Insight: While Je t’aime means "I love you", adding one tiny word and saying "Je t’aime bien" actually turns the phrase into "I like you". Be careful! _(Note: In French, nouns are often accompanied by articles (a/an/the). With this in mind, rather than seeing "amour" alone, you'll often see l'amour, a contraction of la + amour)_ A father, away on a business trip, Skyping his children and saying he loves them. > Learn languages with YouTube!
What you're seeing here is me watching a French YouTube video on my phone. I stumbled into the word French word for love and decided that this was a word I wanted to learn. About two seconds and three clicks later, I'd made a flashcard out of that word and sent it to Migaku Memory. --- ## 5. Love in German – Liebe 📌 Nuance: Liebe (noun) means love; lieben (verb) means to love. Lieben is a strong word in German. 🗣 Examples: - Ich liebe dich.
I love you. _(This is almost exclusively used for true, romantic love.)_ - Ich hab(e) dich lieb.
I love you. _(This is what you'd say to family or close friends.)_ - Per one of our German staff members: "_If a man is talking to a male friend, he'd be more likely to say something like "Ich lieb dich digga/bruder" or "[Alter](/blog/language-fun/german-slang), ich lieb dich, man". It sounds less strong without the -e on liebe_." - Seine Liebe zur Musik ist tief.
His love for music is deep. 💡 Insight: Whereas we love everything in English, Germans are more reserved with Lieben. Unless you know what you're doing, consider using mögen (to like) unless you really, really feel strongly about something. A German man telling a woman that he loves her. --- ## 6. Love in Korean – 사랑 (sarang) 📌 Nuance: How serious a word 사랑해 is in Korean can vary from person to person and province to province. Wait and observe a bit before using it with someone. 🗣 Examples: - 사랑해. (Saranghae)
I love you. - 좋아해. (Choahae)
I like you. (But can be used to your boyfriend/girlfriend, just as we'd say "I love you" in English. Move on to 사랑해 when things start getting serious!) 💡 Insight: 사랑 is a noun, but can be made into a verb by adding 하다. You can learn more about this in [our article on Korean verbs](/blog/korean/korean-verbs-conjugation-guide)! A screenshot of a BTS song in which a band member sings 'I love you' in Korean --- ## 7. Love in Japanese – 愛 (ai) & 恋 (koi) 📌 Nuance: You probably won't hear either of these words often in daily life! You'll more likely hear 好き (suki, "like") or 大好き (daisuki, "really like"). - 愛 (ai) – A deep, honest, unconditional love - 恋 (koi) – A passionate, romantic love—the butterflies in your stomach 🗣 Examples: - 愛してる。(Aishiteru.)
I love you. (Very serious; like "you're thinking about marrying this person" serious). - 彼は恋に落ちた。(Kare wa koi ni ochita.)
He fell in love. 💡 Insight: In Japanese, there's a phrase 「愛は真ん中に心という漢字があるから真心、恋は下に心があるから下心。」, which translates to "The heart 心 is in the middle of 愛, so it's true love... but it's in the bottom of 恋, so that's just "down heart" (ulterior motive)". A Japanese woman telling her daughter that she loves her. > Learn languages with YouTube!
Want a better way to learn Japanese than some boring textbook? Watch Japanese videos on YouTube or Netflix → click subtitles see explanations of words you don't know → make a high-quality flashcard in less than a second → ??? → progress! --- ## 8. Love in Portuguese – (O) Amor 📌 Nuance: As with some of the other languages we've discussed, amor (and its verb form amar ) are reserved for romantic love. For example, the Portuguese translation of the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond" is "Todos Gostam do Raymond" (Everyone _Likes_ Raymond). 🗣 Examples: - Brazil: Eu te amo.
I love you. - Portugal: Eu amo-te. ([audio sample here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j74dOQ3NgtA&t=24s))
I love you. 💡 Insight: Brazilian and European Portuguese are quite different. One of these differences is visible here: in European Portuguese, object pronouns (you/me/etc) usually come after the verb; in Brazilian Portuguese, they come close to the subject pronoun (the person doing the verb). You can see above that "te" comes before "amo" in Brazil, but after it in Portugal. _(Note: In Portuguese, nouns are often accompanied by articles (a/an/the). With this in mind, rather than seeing "amor" alone, you'll often see "o amor")._ A Brazilian woman telling a man that she loves him. --- ## 9. Love in Spanish – (El) Amor 📌 Nuance: Like Portuguese, Spanish has amor (noun) and amar (verb). Also like Portuguese and several of the other languages on this list, _amar_ is a strong word usually reserved for your significant other. 🗣 Examples: - Te amo.
I love you. (To your partner; perhaps to parents/children in some families) - Te quiero.
I love you. (To non-nuclear family members) 💡 Insight: You might actually be able to tell your friends "te quiero", but it differs from place to place and person to person. If you aren't sure, you can safely capture a similar sentiment with "te aprecio" (I appreciate you). If you want to say that you love _something_, you can accomplish that with "me encanta" (~ delights me). _(Note: In Spanish, nouns are often accompanied by articles (a/an/the). With this in mind, rather than seeing "amor" alone, you'll often see "el amor")._ Migaku parsing a Spanish blog article talking about love, enabling you to click on words to see what they mean --- ### 10. Love in Vietnamese – Yêu & Thương 📌 Nuance: Whereas other languages have had this distinction in terms of usage, Vietnamese actually has different words to refer to platonic vs romantic love. - Yêu – Romantic love (that passionate first stage of a relationship) - Thương – Affectionate love (perhaps more like compassion; you care about someone enough that you're willing to take on the responsibilities and perhaps burdens that come along with the relationship.) 🗣 Examples: - Anh yêu em.
I love you. (A man to their wife/girlfriend). - Em thương anh.
I love you. (A woman to a man she cares about, romantically or not). 💡 Insight: As mentioned, yêu describe the passionate first stage of a relationship. Couples start out feeling yêu for each other, but as the relationship matures and they begin to care more deeply for one another, they begin feeling thương for one another. In other words, you can thương and yêu someone simultaneously! _(Note: Be careful with tones! While Yêu means "love", the very similar looking "yếu" means "weak" ! Notice how with yếu (weak) the person's voice rises continuously, but it doesn't with Yêu (love) )_ A man addressing the person he loves, urging her to see the person who is at the door --- ## In conclusion Since we're talking about love, I'm going to be kinda corny here: In learning a language, as with loving a person, words matter—but actions are much more important. Just like a person wouldn't believe you loved them if you say so but never spend any time with them, you won't make much progress learning a language if you focus on individual words. > We learn languages by spending time with them—consuming media in them, and understanding the messages and sentences within that media. If this seems like common sense to you, too, and you're ready to start learning any of the above languages by consuming content you enjoy in them—click the button below.