"to love" in seven languages
Meaningto love
Spanish
/aˈmaɾ/
inherited
Everyday 'I love you' is te quiero; te amo is weightier.
French
/eme/
inherited
Aimer also means 'to like': j'aime le café.
Italian
/aˈmare/
inherited
Ti voglio bene is the love for family and friends; ti amo is romantic.
Portuguese
/aˈmah/
inherited
Romanian
/juˈbi/
other source · Old Church Slavonic ljubiti 'to love'
Catalan
/əstiˈma/
other source · Latin AESTIMĀRE 'to value, esteem'
Amar exists but is literary; T'estimo is how Catalans say 'I love you'.
English
/lʌv/
native English · Old English lufian
The Latin ancestor
AMĀRE‘to love’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French shows free A in the ending: -ĀRE gave -er (and stressed A before m gave the ai of aime). Each sister also has a softer 'I love you': te quiero, je t'aime bien (only fondness), ti voglio bene.
English relatives: amorous, amateur, amiable, enamoured
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esTe quiero.
- frJe t'aime.
- itTi amo.
- ptEu te amo.
- roTe iubesc.
- caT'estimo.
- enI love you.