I love you in Korean ๐Ÿ’—

If you are a K-drama or K-pop fan you most probably heard these three little words, ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด (sa-rang-hae) numerous times, meaning I love you in Korean.

However! The system of Honorifics plays a vital role in the Korean language, so the phrase โ€œI Love Youโ€ needs to be VERY carefully worded.

I-love-you-in-Korean

Basically:

์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค (sa-rang-ham-nida) is the most formal way to say I love you in Korean.
This is not the most common but is used in situations that require politeness. Letโ€™s say a K-pop idol in his or her fan meeting wants to express his love to the fans. Ideally, he or she would wrap up the fan meeting by saying these words.

์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด์š” (sa-rang-hae-yo) is a more common way to express I love you.
Itโ€™s respectful but shows a closer relationship. Natives would use this in most situations so if you are unsure which I love you to use, this is the safest expression to choose.

์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด (sa-rang-hae) is also a popular word you hear in K-dramas. Use this to the ones you are closest to and of course to that special person in your life.

There are other ways to express love in Korean, so make sure you give this article a read before dropping the L-bomb!

How do you say I love you in your language?

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I love the idea that thereโ€™s a formal and informal way to say I love you in a language :laughing:

On the note of saying โ€˜I love youโ€™ in Korean - a lot of BTS fans like using โ€˜I purple you!โ€™, hence the :purple_heart:s everywhere on the K-web!

Apparently, it comes from putting โ€˜purpleโ€™ ๋ณด๋ผ (bora) and โ€˜I love youโ€™ ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด (saranghae) together to make ๋ณด๋ผํ•ด (borahae)!

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If youโ€™re hoping to say ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด (sa-rang-hae) to your special Korean someone, it also probably helps to understand the dating culture :arrow_down:

But be warned, Iโ€™ve heard quite a few dating horror stories coming out of Korea :eyes:

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I find so fascinating that there so many ways to say I love you!

In Italian, we have 2 main sentences to express love:
:heart: Ti voglio bene โ€“ we use it for friends and family
:heart: Ti amo โ€“ we use it for our partners (or sometimes even parents might say this to their kids)

We have a very nice blog about saying โ€œI love youโ€ in Italian as well: 3 Ways to Say โ€œI Love Youโ€ in Italian ๐Ÿฉท Be Careful with Ti Amo!

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