I Love You in Italian đŸ„° // Main Differences Between "Ti Amo" & "Ti Voglio Bene"!

Italian
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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 :laughing:

Do you have this kind of difference in your native language?

I love you in italian

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In Vietnamese, “love” means “yĂȘu,” 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 yĂȘu anh.”
  • If you’re saying it to your girlfriend/wife, it would be “anh yĂȘu em.”
  • If you’re saying it to your dad, it would be “con yĂȘu bố.”
  • If you’re saying it to your mom, it would be “con yĂȘu máșč.”
  • If you’re saying it to your child, it would be “máșč/bố yĂȘu con.”
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This is too much for me to comprehend :rofl:

In this instance, I prefer the English way!

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Good distinction to make! Before I had no idea there was a difference and would say ti amo to my roommate all the time :laughing:

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I am still very surprised at how much americans say I love you, as it is not something you say lightly in France :laughing:

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 :laughing: so just like I said, we don’t take it lightly

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I jus t know, Ti Amo
 it’s much easier to remember but i’m glad I know there’s two ways on saying it.

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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” :sweat_smile:

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I just learned another cute couple of phrases for romantic situations in Italian!

đŸ©· Mi piaci - I like you
đŸ©· Sei l’amore della mia vita - You are the love of my life

Presumably though you’d need to slot in a ‘Ti amo’ between the timeline of these two!

There’s also a blog post on all the ways to say I love you in Italian here :arrow_down:

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These are good ones as well!

“Sei l’amore della mia vita” is for sure very very intense, so yes, it’s definitely in the “ti amo” category :laughing:

“Mi piaci” is also towards the “ti amo” side but it’s way less strong. Usually, is something that we say when we start dating someone

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I’ll save this version of I love you in Italian for special occasions in that case :wink:

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Oh, I totally get what you mean—and honestly, that makes so much sense. English really lacks that nuance when it comes to expressing different kinds of love. We just have this one-size-fits-all “I love you,” and it has to stretch to cover romantic partners, family, close friends, even pets. Context is everything, but still—it can get super awkward or confusing.

That’s why people in English sometimes use workarounds like “Love ya” or “Lots of love” to soften it. Like, “Love ya, bro” is chill between friends, but you wouldn’t say that to your partner in a romantic moment (unless you want the look :sweat_smile:). But there’s still no clean separation like “ti amo” and “ti voglio bene,” which I honestly think is brilliant.

And yeah, if someone told me “ti voglio bene” and I liked them, I’d definitely have a mini crisis. Like: “Wait
 is this the sweet goodbye or the soft rejection??” :joy:

In my native language (English), we kind of have to read between the lines all the time. Tone, delivery, relationship status—it all plays a role, which makes it
 let’s say spicy in the interpretation department.

Do you ever find yourself hesitating in English because of that? Like you want to express affection but worry it might send the wrong signal?

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So true :laughing: the only way to really differentiate in English is to say whether you’re ‘IN’ love with somebody, or to clarify that you just ‘love them as a friend.’ Would be a lot easier if there were just different way to express love!