Saturday, February 14, 2009

How to Say (and Pronounce) I Love You in 10 Different Languages

French: Je t’aime.
Pronounced: Zhuh tem.

The J in Je sounds like the g in mirage. T'aime (Tem) rhymes with them.


Spanish: Te amo.
Pronounced: Tay ahm-oh.

Te amo is the more romantic version, as opposed to the more common Te quiero.

Italian : Ti amo.
Pronounced: Tee-ah-mo.

This sounds very similar to Spanish.

German : Ich liebe Dich.
Pronounced: Ish leeba dish or Ick leeba dick.

The Germans pronounce this differently in different parts of the country

Swedish: Jag älskar dig.
Pronounced: Ya ellscar dey.


Russian : Ya lyublyu tebya.
Pronounced: Ya loobloo tebya.

Speaking Russian can be a little tricky for native English speakers.


Chinese (Mandarin) - Wǒ ài nǐ.
Pronunciation: Wuh eye nee.

The tones are very important when speaking Mandarin Chinese which has four pitched tones and a "toneless" tone. Different tones convey different meanings. Wǒ or "wuh" - the tone falls then rises, ài or "eye" - the tone falls and nǐ or "nee" - the tone falls then rises.


Irish Gaelic: Tá grá agam ort.
Pronounced: Taw graw o-gum urt.

Taw and Graw rhyme with law. The O in O-gum is short as in “not” and Urt rhymes with hurt.


Greek : S' ayapo (It is spoken as s' agapo. The third letter is the lower case gamma).
Pronounced: sag-app-oh.

For all of the “Lord of The Rings” lovers (including myself) this is how you say "I love you" in Elvish.

Elvish: Melin le.
Pronounced: MEL-in leh.

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