Happy Valentine’s Day or Felíz Dia del Amor y la Amistad!  While Valentine’s Day is not traditionally celebrated in most Spanish speaking countries, its influence has certainly reached many. Spanish is also considered to be a very romantic language and in this post, I want to explore how you can incorporate some Spanish while you fall in love.

Photo taken by zuarte bolsas found on Flickr.com with license CC BY 2.0

The beginning

So you met someone who is amazing and you want to get to know them. You should first ask them out on a date or arrange a cita with them. A romantic restaurant might be the way to go, but it all depends on the two of you! Make sure you compliment them on their looks by saying something like ¡Wow! Te ves hermosa (Wow, you look beautiful!) or ¡Que guapo!  (How handsome!). While you are having dinner, make sure you are listening and getting to know them.

If the evening is going well, you might want to step up your romance with a little coqueteo or flirting. When I first met my husband, the only romantic thing he knew in Spanish was tienes los ojos mas bonitos que he visto en mi vida (you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen), and I found it so cute especially with his accent. You can express your wish to get to know them better by saying me encantaría saber mas de tu vida or quisera conocerte mejor!

While you are walking you might want to ask si le puedes dar la mano or if you could hold their hand. If its time for a beso or a kiss you might want to start off with a picorete which is a word we use in Mexico to mean a pop kiss (although this is not exclusively on the lips, it could also be a pek on the cheek so be smart!).

The song below by Natalia Lafourcade talks about that feeling of falling in love.

I love you

You’ve had a couple of dates and are sure this person is someone special. How can you tell them this? Te quiero and te amo are two options although the latter has a lot more feeling. Te quiero can be used more like a warmer version of like. Be sure to write quiero with QU and not C. My family still teases me about the love letters I used to write to my kinder boyfriend saying Te ciero mucho! Nunca te olvidaré!

If you want to express stronger or deeper feelings you can say te amo con todo mi corazón (I love you with all my heart) ,te quiero a morir or I love you to death (if you are in a slightly dramatic romantic mood), and te quiero/amo mas que a nadie en el mundo (I love you more than anyone in the world).

Pet names

Now that you two are an item or a pareja or novios, you might want to give him or her a pet name in Spanish. What are the equivalents to babe, baby, love, etc.? You can go for the direct translations like bebe or amor. You can also just add the diminutive -ito or -ita to make either their name sound cute such as Karolita, Anita, Rafita, and Sarita. For the most part, this works best with female names.

Other nicknames can be corazón (heart), cariño (love), princesa (princess), nena (its equivalent would be little girl), guapo/a (handsome), and hermosa (beautiful).

There are some less obvious nicknames that can also be used such as gordo or gorda which is not to point out any issues with weight. Viejo and vieja are another way to call each other although this one is most common in married couples.

There are also other words you can use to talk about this person to your friends or family. You can call that person your chavo/a, mi vieja/o, and in most of Mexico, it is quite normal to just call your boyfriend mi güey which literally translates as Ox. It is now used as an equivalent to dude hence the importance of “mi.”

The song below uses another nickname, flaca, or skinny.

Breakup

So you dated this person, you fell in love, but it didn’t work out. Perhaps this person te puso los cuernos or cheated on you (literal translation: put horns on you) or they left you for somebody else. How do you deal with this? In Mexico, your friends would insist you salgas a chupar or go out and drink. Regardless of how you choose to deal with your sorrow, you can be sure, like the song below says, that this person will forever be changed by the relationship you shared.

I remember reading that practicing a foreign language in an intimate setting with a loved one allows you to further deepen the language. During the month of love, we should all practice our foreign languages with our significant other(s)!