How do you say “I love you” in French? Different ways to express love

French is arguably the most romantic language in the world. Even in the English language, there are some French words related to love and romance that have made their way into our lives. For example: “fiancé”, “liaison”, “femme fatale” and tête à tête” to name a few. 

Did you also know that there are around 275 million people in the world who speak French? It’s also spoken on four out of five continents, and love and romance is a huge part of the French language and culture. 

Take a look at some of the reasons that French is considered the most romantic language in the world:

1. It’s euphonic. In other words, the French language is very pleasing to listeners’ ears because it doesn’t tend to contain harsh sounding letters or words. Most of the vocabulary is ‘soft’ sounding, and flows smoothly when spoken. 
2. French culture is revered all around the world - it’s heavily centred around love, romance and passion too. Whether it’s the art, the music, the fashion or the food, they’re all great ways of expressing love to someone. If you’re looking for new ways to show your love to your family, partner or friends, the French language is a great place to start (and why not check out our French playlist of songs to suit any mood too?) 
3. The French language is considered a Romance language, as it comes from Latin. It joins Spanish, Italian and Portuguese as Romance languages (which are also all considered as languages of love!) 
4. Ready for a quick history lesson? Another theory that pins French as the most romantic language comes from Medieval France, especially in literature. Knights fought in battle and came back with a longing for women who were often married to other people. This love was seen as ‘pure’ and ‘noble’, so the notion of ‘love’ became idealised, and subsequently separated from marriage (which was seen as more of a contract).

Fun fact: Google actually found that it was the most popular language to translate romantic phrases into! 

Different ways to express love in French 

Whether you’re saying ‘I love you’ for the first time, or you’ve been in a long term, established couple for years, the phrase “Je t’aime” adds a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ (See what we did there?) to your relationship. Alternatively, you could start calling your boyfriend or girlfriend “mon amour” which means ‘my love’. Whatever you choose, adding that extra little bit of romance into your everyday life is bound to make your other half feel even more special! 

Expressing love to family members in French 

Though you might think there’s a different way to tell your family members you love them (rather than the way you’d tell a partner), it’s actually the same! If you have family members who speak French (or French heritage yourself) you could impress them with a nice French phrase at the end of your phone call. 

For example, if you want to tell your mom you love her, it’s simply “Je t’aime maman”. Easy! Though you could, of course, buy your mom a bunch of flowers (or actually do the washing up before she gets home) as another way to show your love to her! 

French phrases for special occasions

Using a French word or phrase when you’re celebrating something special can be great. If you’re attending a romantic occasion like a wedding or an engagement party, make sure you learn these before you attend any special occasions! It’s also important to note that while saying ‘I love you’ can work on some occasions, the following phrases might be a better fit! 

That should just about cover you for all the different ways to express love in French! Don’t forget we love hearing from you, so tweet us at Memrise and let us know what you think some of the most romantic French phrases are.  

If you found this blog helpful, We’ve got loads more cool French phrases that only a local would teach you here! Plus, find out more information about learning french with Memrise!

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