10 Ways To Say I Love You

Love is tricky, especially when language is involved. Can you really capture exactly what you feel for someone by saying “I love you?”

Spanish speakers understand that there are different kinds of love; “I love you” is divided into two categories. First, “te quiero” literally means “I want you,” but it is best understood as “I want you in my life.” This is used to express love for friends and acquaintances. However, there is a deeper love reserved for lifelong partners and other people for whom you share deep feeling: “Te amo.” Simply: I love you.

Love needs to be directed at someone; otherwise, it is useless. Perhaps French understands this better than other languages when it says “Je t’aime” or “Je t’adore.” The t’ means “you,” but it is so tied up with love that “love” and “you” appear as only one word. The French cannot describe love without immediately attributing to whom it belongs. No wonder they’re considered so romantic.

Have you ever noticed that love is a verb, not a feeling? “I love you” is different from “I feel love for you.” In spite of that, we usually treat feeling love and acting in love as the same thing. That is because while some languages have different words for feeling love versus acting out of love, English uses the same word for both. We share that with Mandarin, which says “Ai” for love, like “Wo ai ni” (I love you), and “Ni de ai shi meihao de” (your love is wonderful).

No matter where you are, where you are from, or what language you speak, love is the subject of poems, songs, paintings, books, and movies. We live for love, we die for love, we stay up all night wondering what is love. One of the most simple and beautiful understandings of love comes from Swedish: Jag alskar dig. Alska, which means love, comes from the Old Swedish word ælska. We usually say ælska means “to love,” but traditionally, it means “to take good care of,” or “to cherish.” Love doesn’t get better than that!

At Best Mattress, we’ve discovered the best way to communicate your love for someone: buy them the best mattress in the world.

A good night’s rest is the cornerstone to a wonderful day, and the fundamental building block to a wonderful life. If you want to cherish the love of your life like the Swedes, feel love like the Chinese, cause love to be inseparable from who you’ve given it to like the French, and experience love on a deeper level like the Spanish, you ought to buy a good mattress. Plus, breakfast in bed will turn exponentially better.