How to Say I Love You in English Valentines Day
Well hello I’m Emma from mmmEnglish!
Today I’m gonna share some different and some more
meaningful ways to say “I love you”
Now, of course, it’s lovely to say “I love you”
but it’s a really overused expression in English.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we use it a lot
to talk about friends, family members, pets,
places, even food. We use it all the time!
So when the time comes to really deeply
and genuinely mean it,
there are some better English phrases to use, stronger
and more meaningful ways to express your love.
Let me show you!
It really doesn’t matter who you love, love is love.
But you can use these expressions to help you
share that feeling with whoever you love
but since it’s Valentine’s Day, let’s start deep,
deep and meaningful.
Have you heard of that word ‘deep’ being used
to talk about emotions? Strong emotions, really
personal feelings that affect you deeply inside.
Later on, I’m going to share some expressions that are
casual, perhaps a little more appropriate to
the start of a relationship when you don’t want to be
too serious about your feelings.
Plus, I’m gonna share one that’s often used incorrectly.
It’s kind of outdated but it gets overused
by English learners.
I definitely don’t think that you should use it.
In English, we can go beautifully deep with some idioms
that we use to say “I love you”
and my personal favourite is
“I love you to the moon and back”
So we’re taking “I love you” and we’re making it
even more special with this expression.
We’re taking that love to the moon
and all the way back again - that’s a long way!
That distance is expressing how much love we have
but just in case you were thinking about some other
far-off destinations, don’t switch it.
Okay it doesn’t work with other destinations.
I love you to the shops and back.
It hasn’t really got that same romantic
vibe about it, does it?
When you’re talking about love,
when you’re talking about a deep love,
we need to express the scale of it, you know,
like how enormous are those feelings,
how enormous is that love?
I really love hearing how idioms translate
across languages so I want to know if you’ve got any of
your own that you use in your own languages to talk
about this deep beautiful love.
If you can, write it into the comments below.
I want you to write it in your own language
but then translate it into English as well.
Many times I think that other languages
do a much better job of translating
or expressing those feelings of love and passion
so I’m definitely looking forward to reading yours
in the comments.
In English, you might hear people say
“You make my world go round”
Our planet goes around the sun
and this creates night and day and the seasons.
So many things that are really, really important
to our survival, you know, we rely on our planet
going around the Sun.
And in English, there are two things that
make the world go round which means
they’re extremely important. Without them,
we can’t function, we can’t survive.
Now money is one of those things.
You might have heard that expression before,
“money makes the world go round”
But thankfully, love is the other thing that
makes the world go round.
So we say to the person that we love
“You make my world go round”
Alright to that person when you tell them that
they make your world go round, you’re telling them that
they’re incredibly important to you.
You’re saying that you can’t function without them.
A really important note
for my English learners watching,
this expression is not used with the word ‘around’.
“You make my world go around”
sounds really odd, okay? It’s just
“You make my world go round”
Just a little reminder because that’s an easy
mistake to make.
You can also say “You are my world.”
“You are my everything”
So these are both more romantic ways of saying
you’re the most important thing or the most important
person in my life.
“We were made for each other”
This idiom is about destiny and fate.
Of all the people in this whole world,
it’s as if we were designed and created specifically
for each other.
There is no one else in the world more perfectly suited.
Interestingly you can also use this expression to talk
fondly about someone else’s relationship
but to say that they are perfect for each other.
They’re made for each other. This is unlike the other
idioms that I mentioned. You can’t say
“They love each other to the moon and back”
That’s weird.
But you can use this one to talk about
your own relationship but also other people’s.
I’d be lost without you.
This expression is not just about love,
it’s about showing your appreciation for someone
that they’re so significant in your life,
that you don’t know what you would do without them.
So you could even use it if someone did something
for you that really helped you out,
like they helped you to move house when you’d
broken your arm.
Then you could say to that person
“I’d be lost without you.
I don’t know how I would have done it.”
So with all of these beautiful expressions in mind,
why don’t you practise using them by writing your lover
a little English love note?
It’s Valentine’s Day after all.
There is no better time to be practising
expressing your love for someone in English,
even if your partner doesn’t know much English,
they’re going to be blown away by how much love
and effort went into that little note.
If you want some extra writing tips from me
then check out this lesson up here.
Now let’s go way back to the start of a relationship
when you’re full of passion and lust.
Have any of you just started
a relationship with someone
and you’re still in the early days?
Do you love them yet?
Or maybe you’re falling in love?
Even just saying “I love you” can be scary, it’s like a huge
commitment, right? Maybe you’re a little worried that
the other person’s not ready to say it back to you.
So you might want to keep it a little light,
you know, maybe you don’t want to go so deep.
So let’s try a few less formal, less serious expressions.
I’m crazy about you.
This is a less formal way of saying I love you.
If you’re not a hundred per cent sure whether the other
person is ready to say “I love you” back to you
then definitely go for this one.
It’s going to show them that you’re pretty serious
about your relationship
and ready to take it another step further.
Whatever you do, do not say
“I’m head over heels for you”
I think that that’s a really weird and old-fashioned
way of telling someone that you love them.
It’s written in lots of English language textbooks
so I want to know if
other native English speakers, if you’re watching,
if you agree
you would never tell someone
“I’m head over heels for you”, right? It’s more something
that you would observe in another couple.
Maybe if your teenage son had just started dating a girl
and you know, they were really really cutely in love and
you might tell your friends
“They’re head over heels for each other.”
They’re just crazy about each other.
I think ‘crazy about you’ is a little more contemporary,
you know? ‘head over heels’ is a bit old-fashioned.
One that is definitely not cheesy is “I adore you”
This is a sweet, lovely way of letting someone know
that you love them,
that they hold a special place in your heart.
I’m falling for you.
If you’re not quite ready to say the words “I love you”,
then these ones are a good option
because we use them when you’re in between
really liking someone
and loving them so of course,
the expression relates to that idea of falling in love
which is something I talked about in more detail in
this video up here and so, you know, ‘“I’m falling for you”
is like, you know letting someone know that
it’s happening, you know, this idea of love and falling
in love. It’s happening. It’s in the process.
So today’s the day my friends, the day of love
if you’re watching this video as I release it.
So I want to know do you have plans to celebrate
Valentine’s Day today? Do you usually celebrate?
Or maybe you have a completely different day
to celebrate love in your country.
Or maybe you’re like me and you think that Valentine’s
Day is all commercial garbage and that actually
every day is a day to show love to your partner.
I really hope that I’ve taught you some new expressions
to help you express your deep passionate love
in English which reminds me, if you love mmmEnglish,
then I hope you’ve subscribed to the channel.
Make sure you do if you haven’t already
and you can always practise your natural English
expression, your pronunciation,
your facial expressions with me
in the mmmEnglish Imitation Series.
They are a brilliant way of practising speaking English
with passion and with feeling
so make sure you check them out.
Anyway I’ll see you in the next lesson. Bye for now!