You know that butterfly feeling when someone special walks into the room? Or that warm fuzzy sensation when your mom hugs you after a rough day? That's love - and let's be real, life would be pretty empty without it.
Here's a fun challenge for you: imagine surprising your partner by saying "I love you" in their family's native language, or dropping a heartfelt "te amo" to your Spanish-speaking bestie. Pretty cool, right? Well, get ready because I'm about to hook you up with over 100 ways to say love in different languages.
Trust me, once you start learning these, you won't want to stop - they're seriously addictive (and might just make you the real Casanova in the room).
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Love In Different Languages
Love In Western European Languages
If you've watched any romantic movies, you've probably heard French being called "the language of love." But honestly, all Western European languages have their own special way of making "I love you" sound amazing. From Spanish to German, let's check out how people express their feelings across Western Europe.
- French: amour (noun), je t'aime (I love you)
- Spanish: amor (noun), te amo, te quiero (I love you)
- Italian: amore (noun), ti amo (I love you)
- Portuguese: amor (noun), eu te amo (I love you)
- German: Liebe (noun), ich liebe dich (I love you)
- Dutch: liefde (noun), ik hou van jou (I love you)
- Swedish: kärlek (noun), jag älskar dig (I love you)
- Norwegian: kjærlighet (noun), jeg elsker deg (I love you)
- Danish: kærlighed (noun), jeg elsker dig (I love you)
- Finnish: rakkaus (noun), minä rakastan sinua (I love you)
- Icelandic: ást (noun), ég elska þig (I love you)
- Irish: grá (noun), tá grá agam duit (I love you)
- Scottish Gaelic: gaol (noun), tha gaol agam ort (I love you)
- Welsh: cariad (noun), rwy'n dy garu di (I love you)
- Catalan: amor (noun), t'estimo (I love you)
- Galician: amor (noun), quérote (I love you)
- Basque: maitasuna (noun), maite zaitut (I love you)
- Luxembourgish: Léift (noun), ech hunn dech gär (I love you)
- Frisian: leafde (noun), ik hâld fan dy (I love you)
- Romansh: amur (noun), jau ta tem (I love you)
- Faroese: kærleiki (noun), eg elski teg (I love you)
- Breton: karantez (noun), me da gar (I love you)
- Corsican: amore (noun), ti tengu caru (I love you)
- Sardinian: amori (noun), ti amo (I love you)
- Occitan: amor (noun), t'aimi (I love you)
Love In Eastern European Languages
Don't let those serious-looking Cyrillic letters fool you - Eastern European languages pack some of the most heartfelt and poetic ways to express love you'll ever hear. While they might look tricky to pronounce at first, these languages offer some uniquely beautiful expressions of affection that can make anyone's heart melt.
- Russian: любовь (lyubov), я тебя люблю (ya tebya lyublyu)
- Polish: miłość (miwosc), kocham cię (koham che)
- Ukrainian: любов (lyubov), я тебе кохаю (ya tebe kokhayu)
- Czech: láska, miluji tě (miluyi tye)
- Slovak: láska, ľúbim ťa (lyubim tya)
- Bulgarian: любов (lyubov), обичам те (obicham te)
- Croatian: ljubav, volim te
- Serbian: љубав/ljubav, волим те/volim te
- Slovenian: ljubezen, ljubim te
- Romanian: dragoste/iubire, te iubesc
- Hungarian: szerelem, szeretlek
- Albanian: dashuri, të dua
- Lithuanian: meilė, aš tave myliu
- Latvian: mīlestība, es tevi mīlu
- Estonian: armastus, ma armastan sind
- Macedonian: љубов (ljubov), те сакам (te sakam)
- Belarusian: каханне (kahanne), я цябе кахаю (ja ciabie kahaju)
- Bosnian: ljubav, volim te
- Montenegrin: ljubav, volim te
- Armenian: սեր (ser), ես սիրում եմ քեզ (yes sirum em kez)
- Georgian: სიყვარული (siq'varuli), მე შენ მიყვარხარ (me shen mik'varkhar)
- Moldovan: dragoste, te iubesc
- Greek: αγάπη (agapi), σ'αγαπώ (s'agapo)
- Turkish: aşk/sevgi, seni seviyorum
- Azerbaijani: sevgi, səni sevirəm (seni sevirem)
Love In Asian Languages
From the respectful tones of Japanese to the melodic flow of Mandarin, Asian languages offer some of the most diverse and nuanced ways to express love. What's particularly fascinating is how many of these languages have different words for different types of love - family love, romantic love, and even love for friends often have their own special terms.
- Mandarin Chinese: 爱 (ài), 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ)
- Japanese: 愛 (ai), 愛してる (aishiteru)
- Korean: 사랑 (sarang), 사랑해요 (saranghaeyo)
- Vietnamese: tình yêu, anh yêu em/em yêu anh
- Thai: ความรัก (kwaam rak), ผมรักคุณ/ฉันรักคุณ (phom rak khun/chan rak khun)
- Hindi: प्यार (pyaar), मैं तुमसे प्यार करता/करती हूं (main tumse pyaar karta/karti hoon)
- Bengali: ভালোবাসা (bhalobasha), আমি তোমাকে ভালোবাসি (ami tomake bhalobashi)
- Urdu: محبت (muhabbat), میں تم سے پیار کرتا/کرتی ہوں (main tumse pyaar karta/karti hoon)
- Indonesian: cinta, aku cinta kamu
- Malay: cinta, saya cinta awak
- Tagalog: pag-ibig, mahal kita
- Nepali: माया (maya), म तिमीलाई माया गर्छु (ma timilai maya garchu)
- Khmer: ស្នេហា (sneha), ខ្ញុំស្រលាញ់អ្នក (khnhom srolanh nak)
- Lao: ຮັກ (hak), ຂ້ອຍຮັກເຈົ້າ (khoy hak chao)
- Burmese: အချစ် (a-chit), ခင်ဗျားကိုချစ်တယ် (chin ba ya ko chit tal)
- Mongolian: хайр (khair), би чамд хайртай (bi chamd khairtai)
- Kazakh: махаббат (mahabbat), мен сені сүйемін (men seni süyemin)
- Tamil: காதல் (kadhal), நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (naan unnai kathalikirean)
- Telugu: ప్రేమ (prema), నేను నిన్ను ప్రేమిస్తున్నాను (nenu ninnu premistunnanu)
- Malayalam: സ്നേഹം (sneham), ഞാൻ നിന്നെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്നു (njaan ninne snehikkunnu)
- Kannada: ಪ್ರೀತಿ (prīti), ನಾನು ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ಪ್ರೀತಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ (nānu ninnannu prītisuttēne)
- Sinhala: ආදරය (ādaraya), මම ඔයාට ආදරෙයි (mama oyāṭa ādareyi)
- Uzbek: sevgi, men seni sevaman
- Punjabi: ਪਿਆਰ (pyaar), ਮੈਂ ਤੈਨੂੰ ਪਿਆਰ ਕਰਦਾ/ਕਰਦੀ ਹਾਂ (main tainu pyaar karda/kardi haan)
- Filipino: pag-ibig, mahal kita
Love In Middle Eastern & North African Languages
The Middle East and North Africa have given us some of the world's most poetic expressions of love - just think of those beautiful Arabic love poems! These languages carry centuries of rich cultural tradition in their love expressions, often interweaving respect and devotion in ways that Western languages don't quite capture.
- Arabic (Standard): حب (hubb), أحبك (uhibbuka/uhibbuki)
- Persian/Farsi: عشق (eshgh), دوستت دارم (dooset daram)
- Hebrew: אהבה (ahava), אני אוהב/ת אותך (ani ohev/ohevet otcha/otach)
- Kurdish: evîn/عەشق, ez te hez dikim
- Iraqi Arabic: حب (hub), أحبج/أحبك (ahebbich/ahebbak)
- Egyptian Arabic: حب (hob), بحبك (bahebbak/bahebbik)
- Moroccan Arabic: حب (hob), كنبغيك (kanbghik)
- Tunisian Arabic: حب (hob), نحبك (nhebek)
- Algerian Arabic: حب (hob), نحبك (nebghik)
- Libyan Arabic: حب (hob), نحبك (nhebek)
- Maltese: imħabba, inħobbok
- Assyrian: ܚܘܒܐ (khuba), ܒܥܝܢܘܟ (b'ayinokh)
- Aramaic: ܚܘܒܐ (khubo), ܐܢܐ ܪܚܡ ܠܟ (ena rakhem lakh)
- Coptic: ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ (agape), ϯⲙⲉⲓ ⲙⲙⲟⲕ/ⲙⲙⲟ (timei mmok/mmo)
- Berber/Tamazight: tayri, ḥemleɣ-kem/k
- Somali: jacayl, waan ku jeclahay
- Tigrinya: ፍቕሪ (fiqri), እፈትወካ/ኪ (efetweka/ki)
- Amharic: ፍቅር (fiker), እወድሻለሁ/እወድሃለሁ (ewedishalehu/ewedihalehu)
- Syriac: ܚܘܒܐ (hubo), ܐܢܐ ܪܚܡ ܠܟ (ana rahem lakh)
- Sudanese Arabic: حب (hub), بحبك (bahebak/bahebik)
- Lebanese Arabic: حب (hob), بحبك (bhebbak/bhebbik)
- Azerbaijani: sevgi, səni sevirəm
- Pashto: مينه (meena), زه تا سره مينه لرم (za ta sara meena laram)
- Turkish: aşk, seni seviyorum
- Modern South Arabian: حب (hub), حبّيتك (habbaytak)
Love In African Languages
Did you know Africa has over 2,000 languages? That's a lot of ways to say "I love you!" While we can't cover all of them (that would take forever), I'll share some of the most widely used expressions of love from across the continent.
- Swahili: upendo/mapenzi, nakupenda
- Yoruba: ife, mo nife re
- Igbo: ihunanya, ahụrụ m gị n'anya
- Hausa: soyayya, ina sonki/sonka
- Zulu: uthando, ngiyakuthanda
- Xhosa: uthando, ndiyakuthanda
- Amharic: ፍቅር (fiker), እወድሃለሁ (ewedihalehu)
- Afrikaans: liefde, ek het jou lief
- Oromo: jaalala, sin jaalladha
- Sesotho: lerato, kea o rata
- Tswana: lorato, ke a go rata
- Shona: rudo, ndinokuda
- Lingala: bolingo, nalingi yo
- Kikuyu: wendani, nĩngwendete
- Wolof: mbëggeel, dama la bëgg
- Bambara: kanu, n'bi i kanu
- Kinyarwanda: urukundo, ndagukunda
- Kirundi: urukundo, ndagukunda
- Luganda: okwagala, nkwagala
- Twi: ɔdɔ, me dɔ wo
- Ndebele: uthando, ngiyakuthanda
- Tumbuka: chitemwa, nkhukutemwa
- Fulani: yiɗde, mi yiɗi ma
- Malagasy: fitiavana, tiako ianao
- Chichewa: chikondi, ndimakukonda
Movies That Celebrate Love
Want to level up your language skills while getting lost in some of the world's most beautiful love stories? There's nothing quite like watching romance bloom in its original language - you'll pick up authentic expressions of love that textbooks just can't teach you.
- "Amelie" (French) - This charming Parisian classic made everyone want to learn French! Following the lovable Amélie as she plays cupid and finds her own romance
- "Like Water for Chocolate" (Spanish) - A passionate Mexican film that blends food, family, and forbidden love - it's become a Spanish-language must-watch
- "Life is Beautiful" (Italian) - Roberto Benigni's masterpiece shows the power of love during history's darkest times
- "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Mandarin) - This worldwide hit combines epic martial arts with a deeply moving love story
- "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (Japanese) - An anime favorite that perfectly captures young love and second chances
Ready to watch these classics and thousands more in their original languages? Check out Lingopie! Our streaming platform makes language learning fun with interactive subtitles and learning tools.
Whether you're studying for romance or just love great cinema, we've got everything you need to start your language journey. Begin your free trial today and fall in love with learning!