How to Say “Love” in 100 Different Languages [With Audio]
Love may be a universal language, but how you say it changes from country to country. In this post, you’ll learn how to say “love” in 100 different languages, from the most common to some of the rarest.
Plus, you’ll get some resources to learn additional vocabulary on the topic of love and discover romantic poetry from around the world. With this guide, you can reach across borders and language barriers to share the love far and wide!
Contents
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
“Love” in Different Languages
Here’s how to say “love” in 100 different languages. Some have built-in audio pronunciation while for others, you can click on the link to hear the pronunciation on Forvo.
The last 29 words don’t have their pronunciation, but you can check Forvo to see if they’re added in the future!
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| English | Love |
| Spanish | Amor |
| French | Amour |
| Italian | Amore |
| German | Liebe |
| Portuguese | Amor |
| Dutch/Afrikaans | Liefde |
| Russian | Любовь (Lyubov') |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 愛 (oi3) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 爱 (Ài) |
| Japanese | 愛 (Ai) |
| Korean | 사랑 (Salang) |
| Arabic | حب (Hob) |
| Turkish | Aşk |
| Swedish | Kärlek |
| Hindi | प्रेम (Prem) |
| Finnish | Rakkaus |
| Polish | Miłość |
| Norwegian | Kjærlighet |
| Danish | Kærlighed |
| Romanian | Dragoste |
| Icelandic | Ást |
| Welsh | Cariad |
| Belarusian | Каханне (Kahannie) |
| Persian | عشق (Ishq) |
| Greek | Αγάπη (Agápi) |
| Hebrew | אהבה (Ahavah) |
| Punjabi | ਪਿਆਰ (Pyaar) |
| Czech/Slovak | Láska |
| Indonesian | Cinta/Sayang |
| Filipino | Pag-ibig |
| Ilokano | Ayat |
| Thai | รัก (Rak) |
| Bengali | ভালোবাসা (Bhalobasha) |
| Vietnamese | Tình yêu |
| Hungarian | Szerelem |
| Ukrainian/Bulgarian | Любов (Lyubov) |
| Lithuanian | Meilė |
| Latvian | Mīlestība |
| Croatian/Bosnian | Ljubav |
| Serbian | Љубав (Ljubav) |
| Slovenian | Ljubezen |
| Georgian | სიყვარული (Siqvaruli) |
| Estonian | Armastus |
| Mongolian | Хайр (Khair) |
| Maltese | Imħabba |
| Albanian | Dashuri |
| Basque | Maite |
| Urdu | محبت (Muhabbat) |
| Macedonian | Љубов (Ljubov) |
| Kazakh | Махаббат (Makhabbat) |
| Uzbek | Муҳаббат (Muhabbat) |
| Kurdish | Evîn |
| Luxembourgish | Léift |
| Pashto | مهرباني (Mehrbani) |
| Nepali | प्रेम (Prem) |
| Chichewa | Chikondi |
| Malagasy | Fitiavana |
| Maori | Aroha |
| Hawaiian | Aloha |
| Gaelic (Scottish) | Gràdh |
| Gaelic (Irish) | Grá |
| Swahili | Upendo |
| Guarani | Mborayhu |
| Zulu | Uthando |
| Oromo | Jaalala |
| Telugu | ప్రేమ (Prēma) |
| Twi | Medaase |
| Haitian Creole | Lanmou |
| Yoruba | Ìfẹ́ |
| Northern Sotho | Lerato |
| Tibetan | དབྱིན་བོ (Dbyin-bo) |
| Burmese | ချစ်သူ (Hsa-su) |
| Xhosa | Ubuhle |
| Igbo | Ifunanya |
| Tongan | Ofa |
| Fijian | Kalou dodomo |
| Samoan | Alofa |
| Hausa | So |
| Amharic | ፍቅር (Fikir) |
| Tigrinya | ሕጻን (H'isana) |
| Somali | Jacayl |
| Kinyarwanda | Ubukwe |
| Kirundi | Ukwandura |
| Shona | Kugadzirisa |
| Tswana | Rata |
| Sesotho | Botho |
| Hausa | Soyayya |
| Ibibio | Obóngó |
| Fulfulde | Jàmm-ma |
| Ewe | Azizi |
| Akan | Nsɛm |
| Bambara | Sabali |
| Wolof | Nopp naa la |
| Ibibio | Utom |
| Efik | Idem |
| Ijo | Eniyan |
| Ijaw | Oyoyo |
| Igala | Ojonugwa |
| Bini | Oghogho |
Poetry About Love in Different Languages
Many say that the language of love is best expressed through poetry. Here are some books and other resources containing poems about love and romance in different languages:
Arabic: Check out “Arabian Love Poems,” which features Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani’s poems in English and Arabic.- Chinese: “Chinese Love Poetry” is a beautiful book featuring art, calligraphy and poetry along with English translations.
- French: “Last Love Poems of Paul Eluard” shares poems by the noted French poet along with their English translations.
- German: “Treasury of German Love: Poems, Quotations & Proverbs” features romantic works along with their English translations.
- Italian: “Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio” is a dual-language (Italian and English) text that features love poems written by a then-teenaged Torquato Tasso, all about the same woman.
- Korean: Here’s a terrific website with Korean love poems that you can use to find some romantic material. Studying Korean dramas is never a bad way to acquire the love language, either.
- Portuguese: All Poetry offers several poems by Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moraes, many of which feature translations.
- Spanish: “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair” will provide you with some wonderful works by acclaimed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
Vocabulary Guides for Talking About Love
To learn how to say “I love you” in different languages, check out this post. If you want to pick up some more romantic words and phrases on the topic of love, check out these vocabulary guides:
- Romantic German Phrases
- Romantic Italian Phrases
- Romantic Japanese Phrases
- Korean Terms of Endearment
- Spanish Terms of Endearment
You can also use FluentU to see how romantic phrases are used by native speakers. It would further impress the one you love by committing more to the language.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
With these words for “love” in different languages, you can open your heart and connect with people from all over the world!
And One More Thing...
If you dig the idea of learning on your own time from the comfort of your smart device with real-life authentic language content, you'll love using FluentU.
With FluentU, you'll learn real languages—as they're spoken by native speakers. FluentU has a wide variety of videos as you can see here:
FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.
Didn't catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.
You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU's "learn mode." Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
And FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You get a truly personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
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