As an Italian native speaker, one of the things that triggers me the most when I speak English is saying “I love you” to friends because in Italian we have different ways to express love according to if you’re speaking to a friend, a family member or a partner.
When you want to say “I love you” to your friends and family we normally say “ti voglio bene”; on the contrary, if you’re speaking to your partner we’d say “ti amo”. Hence, “ti voglio bene” is a little bit less intense than “ti amo” (sometimes parents say “ti amo” to their kids as well though).
So, if the person you like says “ti voglio bene” to you, they’re probably friendzoning you
Do you have this kind of difference in your native language?
In Vietnamese, “love” means “yêu,” and we use it for both friends and family members. The tricky part is the pronouns, which can be quite confusing for foreigners.
If you’re saying it to your boyfriend/husband, it would be “em yêu anh.”
If you’re saying it to your girlfriend/wife, it would be “anh yêu em.”
If you’re saying it to your dad, it would be “con yêu bố.”
If you’re saying it to your mom, it would be “con yêu mẹ.”
If you’re saying it to your child, it would be “mẹ/bố yêu con.”
I am still very surprised at how much americans say I love you, as it is not something you say lightly in France
We have “je t’aime” which can be used between lovers, family members and very close friends.
“Je t’aime bien” would be similar to “I like you” but conveys the message that nothing romantic can never happen, and is very rarely said to someone.
We would more commonly say “je l’aime bien” refering to a third person “I like him/her”.
Now that I am writing this I realise there are more nuances depending on context too so just like I said, we don’t take it lightly
Yeah I feel like also for Italians is not something that we say “lightly”! You need to be veeeery special to receive a “ti amo” or “ti voglio bene”
