Bonjour!

Today it’s all about the verbs aimer, adorer, and plaire (to like/love, to adore, to please/like) and how to express these sentiments in French to your petit-copain or petite-copine (boyfriend or girlfriend)!

I love you

The French use the verb ‘aimer’ to express love in the following expressions:

Je t’aime – I love you

Je t’aime beaucoup – I love you a lot

Je t’aime à la folie – I love you like crazy

Je t’aime de tout mon cœur – I love you with all my heart

Je t’aime pour toujours – I love you forever

Je t’aime à mourir – I love you to death.

I adore you

Yes, adorer means to ‘adore’ or ‘love’ something but it’s not the main verb you would use to tell someone you are in love with them, but it’s still sweet to express your adoration of someone! When talking about loving anything other than a person though, use this verb!

Je t’adore, ma puce – I adore you, my flea (yes, it’s a common pet-name!)

On adore la musique classique – We love classical music

I like you

Here are two ways you can say ‘I like you’ in French:

*Tu me plais – I like you (lit. you are pleasing to me)

**Je t’aime bien – I like you

⚠ What’s up with the conjugation of tu me plais here? Shouldn’t it be ‘je te plais‘ – nope! The verb plaire is conjugated quite differently, as it means something is pleasing to you (whether that me a person or something else!) Therefore, watch the subject of the verb plaire when conjugating – the verb agrees with the thing being liked, not the person who likes it. (Another example of a verb like this – manquer (to miss) tu me manques – I miss you [you are missing to me])

Some more examples:

Le chocolat plaît à Brigitte – Brigitte likes chocolate (Chocolate is pleasing to Brigitte)

Je te plais? – You like me? (I am pleasing to you?)

Les fleurs me plaisent – I like the flowers (The flowers are pleasing to me)

Nous plaisons à Anthony – Anthony likes us (We are pleasing to Anthony)

⚠⚠Now you may be confused – wouldn’t je t’aime bien also means ‘I love you a lot’? Nope, the adverb ‘bien‘ in this case does the opposite – it softens the meaning to ‘like’ and not ‘love.’ So be careful!

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Other ways to express some warm and fuzzy feelings in French:

J’en pince pour toi – I have a crush on you (lit. I pinch it for you)

Je pense à toi tout le temps – I think of you all the time

Tu es le soleil de ma vie – You are the sunshine of my life

Tu fais battre mon cœur – You make my heart race

Have some other sweet sentiments? Share them below!