One of the coolest things about traveling the world is learning a little bit if 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 | China, Taiwan, Singapore |
| 2 | Spanish | te amo, te quiero | Hispanic America, Spain, United States, Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara, Pacific islands |
| 3 | English | I love you | Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Singapore, Philippines |
| 4 | Hindi | main tumse pyar karta hoon | India, Fiji, Nepal |
| 5 | Arabic | ahabak | North Africa, Western Asia (Middle East), East Africa |
| 6 | Portuguese | eu te amo | Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste |
| 7 | Bengali | Āmi tōmāẏa bhālōbāsi | Bangladesh, West Bengal (India), Tripura (India), Assam (India) |
| 8 | Russian | ya lyublyu tebya | Russia, former Republics of the Soviet Union, Mongolia |
| 9 | Japanese | watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu | Japan |
| 10 | Punjabi | maiṁ tuhānū pi’āra karadā hāṁ | Punjab region (India, Pakistan) |
The next most spoken language is German, but ‘I love you’ in auf Deutsche has several layers, and can be a lot more specific. For example, to tell someone you love for them more in an ‘I care for you’ kind of way, you would use ‘Ich habe dich gerne’.
Next is ‘Ich hab dich lieb’, which is kind of like, ‘I have love for you’ and is used for friends and family. Between lovers, ‘I love you is’ expressed as ‘Ich liebe dich.’
| 11 | German | ich liebe dich | Austria, Belgium (Eupen-Malmedy), Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, South Tirol (in Italy) |
| 12 | Javanese | Aku tresna sampeyan | Java (Indonesia) |
| 13 | Wu (Shanghainese) | (ngu eh nóng) Ngu long hushin long lah |
Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu (eastern China) |
| 14 | Malay/Indonesian | saya sayang awak | Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore |
| 15 | Korean | salanghae | North Korea, South Korea |
| 16 | Telugu | nēnu ninnu prēmistunnānu | Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry (India) |
| 17 | Vietnamese | anh yêu em | Vietnam |
| 18 | French | je t’aime | Belgium (Wallonia, Brussels), Canada (particularly Quebec, New Brunswick and Eastern parts of Ontario), France, Switzerland, Francophone Africa, French Caribbean, French Polynesia, various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. |
| 19 | Marathi | mī tujhyāvara prēma karatō | Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat (India) |
| 20 | Tamil | nāṉ uṉṉai kātalikkiṟēṉ | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka (India), Puducherry (India), Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius |
| 21 | Urdu | m – (mein ap say muhabat karta hoon) & f – (mein ap say muhabat karti hoon) | India, Pakistan |
| 22 | Persian/Farsi | (asheghetam) used in poetry and songs – (dūset dāram) | Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan |
| 23 | Turkish | seni seviyorum | Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria |
| 24 | Cantonese | ngóh oi néih | Guangdong (Canton), southern Guangxi (southern China), Hong Kong, Macau |
| 25 | Italian | ti amo | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino |
| 26 | Thai | P̄hm rạk khuṇ | Thailand |
| 27 | Gujarati | Huṁ tanē prēma karuṁ chu | Gujarat (India) |
| 28 | Basque | maite zaitut | Northern Spain |
| 29 | Minnan hua | wǒ ài rǔ | Fujian, eastern part of Guandong (southeastern China), Hainan (southern China), Taiwan, Malaysia |
| 30 | Polish | kocham Cię | Poland, USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Belarus, western Ukraine, Lithuania |
| 31 | Pashto | (za la ta sara meena kawom) | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
| 32 | Kannada | Nānu ninnannu prītisuttēne | Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra (India) |
| 33 | Malayalam | ñān ninne snēhikkunnu | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mahé (India) |
| 34 | Sundanese | abdi bogoh ka anjeun | Java (Indonesia) |
| 35 | Chamorro | Hu guiaya hao | Austronesian language spoken mainly on the island of Guam, and also in the Marianas Islands. |
| 36 | Hausa | Ina son ka | Nigeria |
| 37 | Burmese | mainnkohkyittaal | Burma |
| 38 | Oriya | mu tumoku bhala paye | Odisha (India) |
| 39 | Armenian | Yes sirum yem k’yez | Armenia Georgi and Russia |
| 40 | Ukrainian | ya tebe lyublyu | Ukraine |
| 41 | Bhojpuri | hum tohse pyaar kareni | Bihar (India) |
| 42 | Tagalog | Iniibig kita | Manila and Northern Philippines |
| 43 | Yoruba | mo nifẹ rẹ | Nigeria, Benin and Togo |
| 44 | Maithili | hawm ahāṃ se prem karechi | Bihar (India) |
| 45 | Sindhi | Man tokhe prem karyan ti or Man tokhe prem karyan to | Sindh (Pakistan and neighboring areas in India) |
| 46 | Swahili | nakupenda | Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda |
Swahili is the most widely spoken language in Africa with about 100 million speakers, and is the national language of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Swahili is said to have originated from Arabic, among other languages. It’s possible the language came from interactions between Arabs and East Africans back in the day.
| 47 | Uzbek | Men seni Sevaman | Uzbekistan |
| 48 | Amharic | ewedihalehu | Ethiopia |
| 49 | Fula | mi yidi ma | West and Central Africa, from Senegal to Sudan |
| 50 | Igbo | a hụrụ m gị n’anya | Nigeria |
| 51 | Oromo | Sin jaalladha’ | Ethiopia and Kenya |
| 52 | Romanian | te iubesc | Romania, Moldova |
| 53 | Azerbaijani | Mən səni sevirəm | Azerbaijan and Northern Iran |
| 54 | Manipuri/Meitei | əi-nə nəng-bu nung-shi | North East India, Bangladesh, Burma |
| 55 | Chichewa | Ndimakukonda Ndimakukondani |
Bantu language spoken in parts of Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique |
| 56 | Cebuano | gihigugma TIKA | Central and Southern Philippines |
| 57 | Dutch | ik hou van je | Belgium (Flanders, Brussels), Netherlands and Suriname |
| 58 | Kurdish | Ez hej te dikim | “Kurdistan”, northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria |
| 59 | Serbo-Croatian | Volim te | Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro |
| 60 | Malagasy | tiako ianao | Madagascar |
| 61 | Nepali | Ma timīlā’ī māyā garchu | Nepal and neighbouring areas, Sikkim, (India) |
| 62 | Saraiki | mẽ tenū̃ piār kardā hā̃ | Sindh (Pakistan) |
| 63 | Santali | ing aming sibilama | India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan |
| 64 | Khmer | khnhom sralanh anak | Cambodia |
| 65 | Sinhalese | mama oyāṭa ādareyi | Sri Lanka |
| 66 | Bambara | M’bi fe | Mali Mande language with about 3 million speakers in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana |
| 67 | Assamese | môi apunak bhal paû | Assam (India) |
| 68 | Madurese | Kula tresna / panjengan | Madura, and Java (Indonesia) |
| 69 | Somali | Waan ku jeclahay | Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Yemen |
| 70 | Magahi | həm t̪oːraː seː pjaːr kərə hɪjoː/ | Bihar (India) |
| 71 | Dogri | Minjo tere naal pyar hega | Kashmir Jamu (india) |
| 72 | Marwari | main tanne pyaar karoon | Rajastan (India and Pakistan) |
| 73 | Hungarian | Szeretlek | Hungary and areas in neighbouring countries |
| 74 | Chewa | ndimakukondani | Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe |
| 75 | Kinyarwanda | Ndagukunda | Kinyarwanda, a Bantu language spoken in mainly in Rwanda. |
| 76 | Greek | Se agapó | Greece, Cyprus |
| 77 | Akan/Twi | Me dor wo | Ghana, Ivory Coast |
| 78 | Khasi | ieit ieit | Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people. |
| 79 | Kazakh | men seni jaqsı köremin | Kazakhstan |
| 80 | Tswana | Ke a go rata | Botswana |
| 81 | Hebrew | (man to a woman) – “Ani Ohev Otach” (woman to a man) – “Ani Ohevet Otcha” (woman to a woman) – “Ani Ohevet Otach” (man to a man) – “Ani Ohev Otcha” |
Israel |
| 82 | Zulu | Ngiyakuthanda | South Africa |
| 83 | Czech | Miluji tě | Czech Republic |
| 84 | Kinyarwanda | ndagukunda | Rwanda |
| 85 | Kokani | hav tujo mog korta | Goa (india) |
| 86 | Haitian Creole | Mwen renmen ou | Haiti |
| 87 | Afrikaans | Ek het jou lief | South Africa |
| 88 | Ilokano | Ayayatenka, (ay-aya-ten kaw) | Northern Luzon in the Philippines |
| 89 | Quechua | Kuyayki | Peru and Bolivia |
| 90 | Kirundi | Ndagukunda | Burundi and Uganda |
| 91 | Swedish | jag älskar dig | Sweden and Finland |
| 92 | Hmong | Kuv hlub koj | Laos and neighbouring areas |
| 93 | Shona | Ndinokuda | Zimbabwe |
| 94 | Hiligaynon | Palangga ko ikaw Guina higugma ko ikaw |
Western Visayas in the Philippines |
| 95 | Uyghur | (Män sızni söyümän) | Xinjiang (Western China) |
| 96 | Balochi | Tu mana doost biyeh | Balochistan (province in Pakistan and Iran) |
| 97 | Belarusian | ja ciabie kachaju | Belarus |
| 98 | Mossi | Kei te aroha au ki a koe | Burkina Faso |
| 99 | Xhosa | ndiyakuthanda | South Africa |
| 100 | Konkani | Hav tukka Mog Karta | Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra (India) |
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.
And of course, there’s always the good old fashioned hug and kiss, though that can vary widely from region to region too!
‘Til next time we see each other, jag älskar dig!
Note: Language rankings sourced from International Phonetic Alphabet based on number of speakers, and the 13th edition of Ethnologue via David P Brown. Translations sourced from Google translate and a myriad of other sources. If you see an error here, please comment and let me know!
Jub says
Haha yus, this makes me so happy. I had so much fun ‘Mahal Kita’ in Tagalog (there must be two ways to say I love you?) all over the Philippines.
– 8/10 I would get laughs/Mahal Kita in return
– 1/10 didn’t flinch
– 1/10 I got a confused look.
The key is in the delivery. It makes people smile, which is awesome.
Haven’t found the ring of ‘I love you’ in Malay or Thai to be so catchy, but will be doing this again soon enough.
Endah April says
Wow you know Javanese too! I’m Javanese (and Indonesian too of course). I have correction ‘I love you’ in Indonesian, Indonesian and Malay are slightly different. ‘I love you’ in Indonesian is ‘aku cinta kamu’ or ‘saya cinta kamu’.
Kristin says
Thank you!
GG says
Hey Kristin: This is beautiful. You nailed the Hebrew BTW. Only one thing: Number 100 is not Khmer (that was number 64), I think you meant Konkani which is spoken in Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra (States in India). I got this #100 from the source you provided and this is right below Xhosa (internationalphoneticalphabet.com). It would be “Hav tukka Mog Karta” or “Hav Tujher Mog Karta”. It seems like there is a word for “love” in every language, but not for war (Inuit don’t have such a word).
Bob says
This was really helpful as I was doing a annerversary gift for my boyfriend
Kristin says
awesome!
NT says
Thank you 🙂
Shazz says
In Afrikaans it is actually “Ek is lief vir jou”
South African Girl 🙂
Kristin says
Thanks for letting me know!
Andreja says
Slovenian Is: LJUBIM TE (LYOOBIM TEH)
사랑해 says
In korean it is not salanghae, its saranghae
Y/N says
Thank you I used all of them for a present for my boyfriend for our three month!!
Kristin says
so cute!