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How to say “I love you” in French, and more widely, what verb do you use when you want to say that you like cheese a lot but that you like chocolate better?
Have you ever seen a child in France plucking the petals of a daisy one at a time while saying “Je t’aime, un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout” (I love you, a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all), the last petal determining your degree of love for that person?
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As you probably already know, using the verb aimer in reference to a person means “to love” that person, but love can be expressed in varying degrees just like when you’re plucking the petals of a daisy, and according to the adverb you choose to qualify your love, it can actually end up meaning “to like” instead of “to love”. This is where it can become confusing and tricky. How do we simply say to a friend “I like you”? Let’s clarify how the verb aimer is used and also have a look at some other options:
When you wish to make declaration of love to someone, the verb aimer is most appropriate.
Examples:
Je vous aime OR Je t’aime ! = I love you!
J’aime Robert ! = I love Robert!
To say that you’ve fallen madly in love:
J’aime Robert à la folie. = I’m madly in love with Robert.
When you wish to express that you like someone, then you have a few options. To say that you “like” or are “fond of” someone, it would then be appropriate to use aimer, BUT you need to add an adverb, such as bien, or beaucoup. Strangely enough, these adverbs make aimer less strong, so that they can be used with friends rather than family and lovers.
Examples:
J’aime bien Robert. = I like Robert.
J’aime beaucoup Robert. = I like Robert a lot.
Je t’aime bien. = I like you.
When you wish to say that you like or love something, aimer will be appropriate to use again.
Examples:
J’aime le chocolat. = I like chocolate.
Tu aimes la vie. = You love life.
Nous aimons cette ville. = We like this city.
Note that with aimer and other verbs of feelings such as préférer (to prefer), apprécier (to appreciate), détester (to hate) you will always use the definite article (le, la, les) and not the partitive article (du, de la, des).
You cannot say J’aime du chocolat when you’re just making a “like/love” statement. Therefore, you can say J’aime le chocolat, je préfère le chocolat, je déteste le chocolat, etc.
If you wish to replace the word le chocolat by “it” , you can use the regular direct object pronouns (je l’aime), but the French have a strong tendency to replace “it“ with the indefinite demonstrative pronoun ça.
Examples:
Aimes-tu le chocolat ? Oui, j’aime ça ! = Do you like chocolate? Yes I like it.
Est-ce que tu aimes lire ? Oui, j’aime ça. = Do you like to read? Yes I like it.
Les cigarettes, je n’aime pas ça. = I don’t like cigarettes.
The French tend to use je voudrais = “I would like” when they want to ask for something in a polite way. Simply saying je veux can be a bit abrupt and less polite than je voudrais. The French will also use aimer a lot in the conditional which also means “I would like” .
This is how we use it:
J’aimerais un verre d’eau avec mon café svp (s’il vous plaît) ! = I would like a glass of water with my coffee please!
J’aimerais un kilo de carottes bio svp. = I’d like one kilo of organic carrots please.
Another popular alternative for “ to like ” = ( se ) plaire.
Plaire literally means “to please” , but in French it really means to like something or someone. The French use it a lot as an alternative to aimer.
Here is how it is used and conjugated:
Tu me plais. = I like you.
Ça me plaît. = I like it.
Il me plaît. = I like him.
Elle me plaît. = I like her.
Etc…
Examples:
Robert me plaît = Literally it means “Robert pleases me” but really what you’re saying is “I fancy/like Robert” (it could be expressed either in a romantic or a friendly way).
La maison me plaît. = I like the house.
Le film me plaît. = I like the movie.
Nous nous plaisons ici. = We like it here.
Paris te plaît ? = Do you like Paris?
Mes parents se plaisent bien dans cette ville. = My parents like it in this city.
Adorer is used to express a true love for something but it is not quite as strong as aimer when expressing love for/to people!
Examples:
J’adore ce peintre. = I truly love this painter.
J’adore la soupe. = I truly love the soup.
J’adore la mer. = I truly love the sea.
Mon mari adore prendre l’apéro dans ce bar. = My husband loves having an aperitif in this bar.
J’ai adoré ce film. = I truly loved this film.
J’adore les romans d’amour. = I truly love romance novels.
J’adore Robert, il est drôle ! = I really like Robert, he’s funny!
BUT
J’aime Robert. = I love Robert (stronger than adorer).
The French rather tell you je préfère than j’aime mieux when they want to say that they like someone or something better or best. Therefore, the meaning of this verb is slightly different than “to prefer” in English.
Examples:
– J’aime bien le fromage, mais je préfère le chocolat. = I like cheese, but I like chocolate better.
– Elle préfère son oncle à sa tante. = She likes her uncle better than her aunt.
– Mes fils préfèrent jouer au foot qu’au basket . = My sons like playing soccer better than basketball.
– J’aime bien le vin mais ce que je préfère c’est le Champagne. = I like wine but what I like best is Champagne.
The news ways to say Je t’aime
Kiffer, which means to love, to like, to be crazy about someone or something, is a slang expression from Arab origin mainly used by teenagers and young men and women, especially the ones living in low-income housing developments or neighbourhoods.
Je te kiffe. = I love you.
Je te kiffe mortel, Je te kiffe grave. = I am wild/crazy about you.
Tu kiffes tellement les frites ? = You like French fries so much?
Love … Yes, like so many English words, the verb “to love” has entered the French vocabulary, and, again, is mainly used by young people, especially those who are part of the upper classes or who live in the chic parts of Paris or big cities.
Je te love . = I love you.
On peut voir que tu la loves, cette fille ! = We can see that you love this girl!
Improve your French aural comprehension, your French writing skills or your grammar knowledge. Communicate with ease and confidence when traveling in France… Our ebooks have helped thousand of French learners. Ebooks with audio, exercices, short stories, etc.