One of the coolest things about traveling the world is learning a little bit of the local language.
It’s amazing how much you can learn about a culture based on how they express themselves. There’s always an expression or a word that doesn’t exist in other languages, or seems special based on the collective mentality of that particular culture. It’s amazing to think that through all of the years, wars, and our existence as human beings – one thing remains, our method of communicating using language and our ability to love.
As Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, I started to wonder, how do people say ‘I love you’ around the world? I already knew it in French, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Korean, and English of course, but what about the other languages of the world?
So here it is, after hours upon hours of searching and research, this is how to say I love you in different languages – to be exact the 100 most spoken languages in the world!
Here are the languages in order of how many people speak them, how you say ‘I love you,’ and where it is spoken:
1. Mandarin: Wǒ ài nǐ
2. Spanish: te amo, te quiero
3. English: I love you
4. Hindi: main tumse pyar karta hoon
5. Arabic: ahabak
6. Portuguese: eu te amo
7. Bengali: Āmi tōmāẏa bhālōbāsi
8. Russian: ya lyublyu tebya
9. Japanese: watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu
10. Punjabi: maiṁ tuhānū pi’āra karadā hāṁ
11. German: ich liebe dich
12. Javanese: Aku tresna sampeyan
Where it’s spoken: Java (Indonesia)
13. Wu (Shanghainese): (ngu eh nóng) Ngu long hushin long lah
Where it’s spoken: Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu (eastern China)
14. Malay/Indonesian: saya sayang awak
15. Korean: salanghae
16. Telugu: nēnu ninnu prēmistunnānu
17. Vietnamese: anh yêu em
18. French: je t’aime
19. Marathi: mī tujhyāvara prēma karatō
20. Tamil: nāṉ uṉṉai kātalikkiṟēṉ
21. Urdu: m – (mein ap say muhabat karta hoon) & f – (mein ap say muhabat karti hoon)
22. Persian/Farsi: (asheghetam) used in poetry and songs – (dūset dāram)
23. Turkish: seni seviyorum
24. Cantonese: ngóh oi néih
25. Italian: ti amo
26. Thai: P̄hm rạk khuṇ
27. Gujarati: Huṁ tanē prēma karuṁ chu
28. Basque: maite zaitut
29. Minnan hua: wǒ ài rǔ
30. Polish: kocham Cię
31. Pashto: (za la ta sara meena kawom)
32. Kannada: Nānu ninnannu prītisuttēne
33. Malayalam: ñān ninne snēhikkunnu
34. Sundanese: abdi bogoh ka anjeun
35. Chamorro: Hu guiaya hao
36. Hausa: Ina son ka
37. Burmese: mainnkohkyittaal
38. Oriya: mu tumoku bhala paye
39. Armenian: Yes sirum yem k’yez
40. Ukrainian: ya tebe lyublyu
41. Bhojpuri: hum tohse pyaar kareni
42. Tagalog: Iniibig kita
43. Yoruba: mo nifẹ rẹ
44. Maithili: hawm ahāṃ se prem karechi
45. Sindhi: Man tokhe prem karyan ti or Man tokhe prem karyan to
46. Swahili: nakupenda
47. Uzbek: Men seni Sevaman
48. Amharic: ewedihalehu
49. Fula: mi yidi ma
50. Igbo: a hụrụ m gị n’anya
51. Oromo: Sin jaalladha’
52. Romanian: te iubesc
53. Azerbaijani: Mən səni sevirəm
54. Manipuri/Meitei: əi-nə nəng-bu nung-shi
55. Chichewa: Ndimakukonda Ndimakukondani
56. Cebuano: gihigugma TIKA
57. Dutch: ik hou van je
58. Kurdish: Ez hej te dikim
59. Serbo-Croatian: Volim te
60. Malagasy: tiako ianao
61. Nepali: Ma timīlā’ī māyā garchu
62. Saraiki: mẽ tenū̃ piār kardā hā̃
63. Santali: ing aming sibilama
64. Khmer: khnhom sralanh anak
65. Sinhalese: mama oyāṭa ādareyi
66. Bambara: M’bi fe
67. Assamese: môi apunak bhal paû
68. Madurese: Kula tresna / panjengan
69. Somali: Waan ku jeclahay
70. Magahi: həm t̪oːraː seː pjaːr kərə hɪjoː/
71. Dogri: Minjo tere naal pyar hega
72. Marwari: main tanne pyaar karoon
73. Hungarian: Szeretlek
74. Chewa: ndimakukondani
75. Kinyarwanda: Ndagukunda
76. Greek: Se agapó
77. Akan/Twi: Me dor wo
78. Khasi: Nga ieid ia phi
79. Kazakh: men seni jaqsı köremin
80. Tswana: Ke a go rata
81. Hebrew: (man to a woman) –“Ani Ohev Otach”
82. Zulu: Ngiyakuthanda
83. Czech: Miluji tě
84. Kinyarwanda: ndagukunda
85. Kokani: hav tujo mog korta
86. Haitian Creole: Mwen renmen ou
87. Afrikaans: Ek het jou lief
88. Ilokano: Ayayatenka, (ay-aya-ten kaw)
89. Quechua: Kuyayki
90. Kirundi: Ndagukunda
91. Swedish: jag älskar dig
92. Hmong: Kuv hlub koj
93. Shona: Ndinokuda
94. Hiligaynon: Palangga ko ikaw Guina higugma ko ikaw
95. Uyghur: (Män sızni söyümän)
96. Balochi: Tu mana doost biyeh
97. Belarusian: ja ciabie kachaju
98. Maori: Kei te aroha au ki a koe
99. Xhosa: ndiyakuthanda
100. Konkani: Hav tukka Mog Karta
So whether you’re telling someone je t’aime, wo ai ni, nakupenda, or I love you, you can say it in 100 different ways today.