Saturday, August 2, 2014

How to say "I love you" in Japanese?

The term "I love you" was among those that raised the most translation requests. Including Japanese language. I offer a summary of possible translations with explanations.

The most evident way to translate "I love you" in Japanese is:

あたしはあなたが好きです。"Watashi wa anata ga suki desu."
  • あたし "watashi" = I; can be replaced by
  • "wa" is the particle for the subject.
  • あなた "anata" = you
  • "ga" it's the particle for the object.
  • 好き です "suki desu" which means love, or 好き だ "suki da".
the first part (あたしはあなたが "watashi wa anata ga") is quite formal and can do without, It is possible to add "dai" before "suki", that's why you can hear just 大好きです "daisuki desu" or 大好きだ "daisuki da".
あたしはあなたを愛しています。Watashi wa anata o aishiteimasu. Its use is the same as あたしはあなたが好きです。Watashi wa anata ga suki desu. except that you replace the particle  "ga" par "o".

2 comments:

  1. Most use the informal usage now, especially for the younger generations. Ai shi te ru or あいしてる。the use of Suki desu used to and still does imply liking a lot but it is very informal, if you cannot muster the I love you, then I like you very very much or すきしてる。

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    Replies
    1. 爱 which reads "ai". we can create a verb: 愛しています aishiteimasu the polite form, 愛し てる aishiteru in the neutral form

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