Learn How to Say I Love You in Japanese

Learn How to Say I Love You in Japanese One of the most popular phrases in any language is probably I love you. There are many ways to say, I love you, in Japanese, but the expression has slightly different cultural meanings than it does in Western nations like the U.S.   In Kansai-ben, a regional dialect spoken in south-central Japan, the phrase suki  yanen is used for I love you. This colloquial phrase has become so popular that its even used as the name of an instant noodle soup. Saying I Love You In Japanese, the word love is ai, which is written like this: æ„›. The verb to love is aisuru (愛㠁™ã‚‹). A literal translation of the phrase I love you in Japanese would be aishite imasu. Written out, it would look like this: 愛㠁â€"㠁 ¦Ã£ â€žÃ£  ¾Ã£ â„¢. In conversation, youre more likely to use the gender-neutral word aishiteru (愛㠁â€"㠁 ¦Ã£â€šâ€¹). If you wanted to express your affection for a man, you would say, aishiteru yo (愛㠁â€"㠁 ¦Ã£â€šâ€¹Ã£â€šË†). If you wanted to say the same thing to a woman, youd say, aishiteru wa (愛㠁â€"㠁 ¦Ã£â€šâ€¹Ã£â€š ). Yo and wa at the end of a sentence are sentence-ending particles.   Love Versus Like However, the Japanese dont say, I love you, as often as people in the West do, mainly because of cultural differences. Instead, love is expressed by manners or gestures. When the Japanese do put their feelings into words, theyre more likely to use the phrase suki desu (Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã£  Ã£  §Ã£ â„¢), which literally means to like. The gender-neutral phrase suki da (Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã£  Ã£   ), the masculine suki dayo (Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã£  Ã£   Ã£â€šË†), or feminine suki yo (Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã£  Ã£â€šË†) are more colloquial expressions.  If you like somebody or something very much, the word dai (literally, big) can be added as the prefix, and you can say daisuki  desu (Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã£  Ã£  §Ã£ â„¢). Variations on I Love You in Japanese There are many variations on this phrase, including regional dialects or hogen. If you were in the south-central part of Japan surrounding the city of Osaka, for example, youd probably be speaking in Kansai-ben, the regional dialect. In Kansai-ben, you would use the phrase suki yanen (written as Ã¥ ¥ ½Ã£  Ã£â€šâ€žÃ£  ­Ã£â€šâ€œ) to say, I love you, in Japanese. This colloquial phrase has become so popular in Japan that its even used as the name of an instant noodle soup. Another word to describe love is koi (æ â€¹). The primary difference between using the word koi instead of ai is that the former is typically used to express romantic love for one person, while the latter is a more general form of love. However, the differences can be subtle, and there are many more ways to say I love you in Japanese if you want to be particularly eloquent.