Are you in a romantic relationship with a native Spanish speaker or maybe you want to get involved in a relationship with a native Spanish speaker? If this is the case, you’ll want to know how to say “I love you” in Spanish. Well, in Spanish you can say “I love you” in two different ways: “I love you” and “I love you.”
So what is the difference between “I love you” and “I love you”? Literally, “Te amo” means “I love you”, while on the other hand, “Te quiero” literally means “I love you”. According to most Spanish speakers, “Te amo” is a bit more serious than “I love you.” So if you are starting a relationship and there is still a bit of uncertainty then you will probably want to use “I love you” however if your relationship is heating up and you want to take it to the next level then you will want to use “I love you.” “I love you” is often used between fiancées and between spouses, but not exclusively.
Now, here in the United States we often say that we “love” inanimate objects. For example, we sometimes say that “we love our cars.” In Spain and Latin America, you would never say “I love my car”, and if you said “quiero mi carro”, this would simply translate as “I want my car”. No, if you wanted to translate “I love my car” into Spanish, you would say “me encanta mi carro”. Sometimes we like things without loving them. For example, I like chicken (but I don’t love it). In Spanish you would express this with “gusta” instead of “encanta”, for example, “me gusta pollo”. (chicken).
Just remember that if you want to say “I love you” in Spanish, you would say “Te amo” or “Te quiero” and “Te amo” is used in more serious relationships. If you want to say that you love an inanimate object, then you would say “I love it”, but if you only like the object, then you would say “I like it”.