21 Ways to Say I Love You
How do you say “I love you” to your boyfriend, wife or partner? Are you a hopeful romantic, constantly seeking new ways to express your affection? How do you keep the romance alive in your relationship?
I have always believed that one needs to keep doing whatever they did to find the person they love in the first place. Finding your ‘one’ isn’t the end objective - it’s only the beginning. We cannot afford to get complacent. We need to do things to keep the love and romance alive, to show our loved ones how much they mean to us, to make them happy, to evolve as a couple, to grow in the relationship. The good news is there are a million and one ways to be expressive. So take note!
Below are a few ways to say “I love you” creatively.
1. 7 days of birthday
Apart from your anniversary, your loved one’s birthday is the most important day of the year. So you have to make it very special. One way to do this is to prepare really well. Find out what the object of your affection covets the most. Or simply what they enjoy doing, what they love to eat, where they go to have fun. You need 7 items for the 7 days leading up to their birthday. These are little things they would be delighted to have or do.
Examples are:
a. A dinner at their fave resto
b. A poem/song written by you
c. Flowers delivered to their work place
d. Wash their car
e. Give them a massage
f. A personalised pen
g. A book on a hobby they have like photography, writing or cooking
h. A tiny bottle of their favourite scent
The idea is on the 7th day before their birthday, you create a banner saying “It’s 7 Days Before Your Birthday” and stick it up either in the lounge or the bedroom. Then give them their first little present. The following day, change the 7 Days to 6 Days and give them their little pressie, and so on.
Obviously the day of the birthday, you probably will have a whole day planned for them filled will wonderful surprises. And on this day, the presents are totally up to you. But the most important thing is that you give it a lot of thought and only do things you know they love.
2. Romance DVD’s marathon
One weekend, a Saturday or a Sunday, or Friday evening, why not watch 3 or more romance films from different decades, genres and even countries. Some of my personal favourites are Cinema Paradiso, Il Postino, An Affair to Remember, Roman Holiday, Stealing Heaven, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Love Story, Same Time,Next Year and Ever After. What are yours?
3. Do not bring up past mistakes
Now this is a big one. How challenging is this? But believe you me, it’s one of the best things you can ever do to help a relationship stay strong and allow for the loving to deepen. What’s the point of bring up past mistakes anyway? Who is it hurting more - you or your loved one? And why would you want to hurt either one? If you cannot see past the mistakes, it’s time for a relationship audit.
4. Jar of memories
One of the things that will help you accomplish this is keep a record of the wonderful things you and your loved one have done together. Using paper, whatever type you may want to use (linen or not), and whatever the colour or a variety, write the memories on each piece of paper, roll it up (or fold) and drop all of them into a jar. A transparent cookie jar works well. You can even decorate the jar yourself with photos of the two of you and other arts and craft materials.
Some of the memories could be:
a. Remember when we went to the park one Sunday? We rented bikes and spent the most afternoon I could remember. I felt like a child as we enjoyed our ice cream afterwards.
b. Remember when we I had the flu last year and you came home at lunch time for a week to make sure I had something to eat? I never felt more loved.
c. Remember when we kissed for the first time? I felt I have come home.
It’s up to you how many memories you’d like to put in the jar, but 100 is a good number. They don’t have to be all big memories. The little moments count, too.
5. The video
This involves a lot of work, but hey, you’re doing it for the love of your life. You can do this for them for their birthday or anniversary. What you do is make a list of all the special people in your partner’s life: from school (including teachers who have been special to them), workmates, the family, and anyone else you think is important to be part of the video.
You then prepare questions you would like to ask these people as you film them. The questions would be different for each person, depending on their relationship with your partner. Each interview has to be short and sweet because editing the video would be very difficult. Then at the end of the edited interviews, you can make a video with their favourite music as you show pictures of them chronologically arranged from the time they were born to the present (if it’s for a birthday) or photos of you together traveling, sharing moments together (if it’s for your anniversary).
6. List all the things you love about them
It’s best that you and your partner make a list for each other. Then you can frame that list or put it somewhere prominent (like the fridge) so that you are reminded what you love about the other person, and you also get reminded of the things they love about you. That way neither one of you ever forgets why you fell for each other in the first place.
7. Say I love you before you sleep and the moment you wake up
That’s what I call starting and ending the day right!
8. Prepare meals together, and wash up together, too
Plan the meal you both will enjoy and shop for the ingredients together. It’s more fun that way.
9. Whisk them off to their dream vacation
Making sure that their passport is valid for at least 6 months and they have the necessary visa, it would be great to whisk them off somewhere they have always wanted to visit. Be it somewhere in Europe, South America or Asia, all that matters is you pick a place your loved one has been dreaming of for a long time. Then make sure you research places they would enjoy visiting there, and activities they would delight in doing. If you can also keep the destination from them a secret until you get there, or board the plane, all the better!
10. Make a scrapbook on your relationship - concert/cinema tickets, hotel reservations, cards and love notes, pictures
When doing this, you may want to write a story to go along with it and call it something like: When Luke Met Andrea.
11. Read love poems to each other
This one is really special, but can only be appreciated if at least one of you like literature. In the movie Stealing Heaven (a true story), Abelard and Heloise would read poems to each other and it was quite exciting when they did because they felt that passion for each other. One of my favourite poets, apart from Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, is Pablo Neruda. He is a very special poet. I highly recommend his sonnets and his book 20 Love Poems and A Song of Despair. If you don’t want to read poems, then listen to them. If you get the soundtrack of Il Postino, with celebrities reading the poems, you can still have a special moment together - while sipping coffee or tea and eating some cake.
12. Send your partner flowers
You send flowers not only on special occasions, but also whenever you feel like saying “I love you.” Men may deny it, but they don’t mind getting flowers, too. And green orchids usually work for men! The message that accompanies the flowers should be unique and written in a language that only you and your loved one understand - either a particular language or a quote from a film that you both like or novel that you read.
13. Turn your email and text messages into a book. Type them up, print them yourself and bound it. Or you can have this done professionally.
If you were going to do this yourself, I can already tell you that it does take a lot of time and effort. But the end result is something your partner will truly cherish. The advantage of doing it yourself is that you’re guaranteed that no one else is going to read the email, especially if there’s something very personal or illicit you’d like to keep private. 
14. Surprise them at work and take them to a really nice place to have lunch or even have a picnic
Who doesn’t like surprises, especially when they’ve been having a not so good day at work? A picnic would be a bit more intimate and personal - carefully choosing what wine they love to have with their pasta or cheeseboard.
15. Prepare their lunch to take to work - their favourite foods, a cartoon and a love note
It may mean that you have to get up a little bit earlier than usual to do this, but if you write the note and cut out the cartoon the night before then things are easier. In the end, it’s not really so much the food itself (although it helps) that matters the most, but the thought that goes with it. Make sure that they don’t have a lunch meeting before preparing anything.
16. A breakfast in bed on a lazy Sunday wouldn’t go amiss.
The smell of crispy bacon and eggs in the morning is so inviting. Or if they prepare porridge or just toasts with freshly brewed coffee, they would love being treated like a king or queen in the morning.
17. Call them at work - just to see how they are and say how much you love them
This doesn’t have to last more than a minute. Hearing each other voices is enough.
18. Spoon when you sleep
Spooning is just as intimate as making love. When your bodies touch, they communicate to each other and will tell your partner exactly how you feel.
19. Instead of giving them a Christmas, Valentine or New Year’s card in person, why not post it to them - they would love the surprise!
I suggest you mail it to their place of work. If they work from home, then that’s fine, too.
20. Kiss them the Inuit way - nose to nose. You’d be surprised at how pleasurable it is.
Try it. And then let me know how it feels when the tip of your noses rub for a few seconds. Your whole body tingles. That’s love!
21. Hold hands in public and give them a kiss when they least expect it.
Hopefully, you don’t have clammy hands. But even so, holding hands in public is a definite declaration of love for each other. If you can just avoid swinging your arms as you hold hands while walking, that would be much appreciated because that’s when you cross over to ickiness.
22. Say “I love you” in another language now and then.
And to help you with this, read on! So what about you? How do you express your love for your special someone?
Note: If you notice any error in the translation, please let me know!
Afrikaans - Ek is lief vir jou!
Albanian - Te dua!
Amharic - Afekrishalehou!
Arabic - Ohiboke / Nohiboka
Armenian - Yes kez si’rumem!
Basque - Maite zaitut!
Bengali - Ami tomake bahlobashi!
Bosnian - Volim te!
Bulgarian - Obicham te!
Catalan - T’estimo!
Creole - Mi aime jou!
Croatian - Volim te!
Czech - Miluji tev!
Danish - Jeg elsker dig!
Dutch - Ik hou van je!
English - I love you!
Esperanto - Mi amas vin!
Estonian - Mina armastan sind!
Farsi - Tora dost daram!
Filipino - Mahal kita!
Finnish - (Mä) rakastan sua!
French - Je t’aime!
Frisian - Ik hald fan dei!
Galician - Querote!
German - Ich liebe dich!
Greek - S’ayapo!
Gujarati - Hoon tane pyar karoochhoon! tane chaahuN chhuN!
Hawaiian - Aloha wau ia ‘oe!
Hebrew - Anee ohev otakh / Anee ohevet otkha / Anee ohev otkha / Anee ohevet otakh
Hindi - Mai tumase pyar karata hun / Mai tumase pyar karati hun
Hungarian - Szeretlek!
Icelandic - Eg elska thig!
Indonesian - Saya cinta padamu!
Irish - T’a gr’a agam dhuit!
Italian - Ti amo!
Japanese - Kimi o ai shiteru!
Korean - Dangsinul saranghee yo!
Latin - Te amo!
Latvian - Es tevi milu!
Lithuanian - As tave myliu!
Malaysian -vSaya cintamu!
Mandarin -vWo ai ni!
Marshallese -vYokwe Yuk!
Norwegian -vJeg elsker deg!
Polish -vKocham ciebie!
Portuguese -vEu te amo!
Romanian - Te iubesc!
Russian - Ya tyebya lyublyu!
Sanskrit - Twayi snihyaami
Serbian - Volim te!
Sesotho - Kiyahurata!
Slovak - Lubim ta!
Slovenian - Ljubim te!
Spanish - Te amo!
Swahili - Nakupenda!
Swedish - Jag älskar dig!
Tagalog - Iniibig kita!
Thai - Phom rug khun / Chan rug khun
Turkish - Seni seviyorum!
Ukrainian - Ya tebe kokhayu!
Urdu - Main tumse muhabbat karta hoon!
Vietnamese - Anh yeu em / Em yeu an
Welsh - Rwy’n dy garu di!
Yiddish - Kh’hob dikh lib!
Zulu - Ngiyakuthanda!
55 Love Notes for “21 Ways to Say I Love You”
September 24, 2007
i wanna try the jar of memories, problem is i still dont have a partner, hehe. cool tips doc!
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September 24, 2007
“Tagalog - Iniibig kita!” I’d get goosebumps if someone say this to me. NO WAY, hahaha. I think the Icelandic sounds cute.
Eg Elska “yourlovecoach”!
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September 24, 2007
my husband did that 1 week of birthday thing for me last week, it was fun! i would recommend this to anyone, it’ll work wonders.
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September 24, 2007
very nice tips.
Thanks for sharing!
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September 24, 2007
As soon as I saw this post I thought of this song:
“HOW DO YOU KEEP THE MUSIC PLAYING”
How do you keep the music playing
How do you make it last
How do keep the song from fading
Too fast
How do you lose yourself to someone
And never lose your way
How do you not run out of new things
To say
And since you know we’re always changing
How can it be the same
And tell me how year after year
You’re sure your heart will fall apart
Each time you hear his name
I know the way I feel for you is now or never
the more I love the more that I’m afraid
That in your eyes I may not see forever, forever
If we can be the best of lovers
yet be the best of friends
If we can try with every day
To make it better as it goes
With any luck than I suppose
The music never ends
It isn’t exactly what this post is about, and yet, it is, in a way…These lyrics are by The Bergman’s and I cannot remember who wrote the Music—Michel Legrand I think…
Anyway….you give very very GOOD advice, my dear.
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September 24, 2007
like the various love languages - but yr loved ones will doubt u also hehehhehee, dunno whether u are taking them for a ride hehehehe
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September 24, 2007
Hi, iskoo! You don’t have to do the memories jar for just a partner - could be for a very special friend, or on mother’s or father’s day!
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September 24, 2007
You’re right. Icelandic sounds cute, but a very difficult language. If someone says Iniibig Kita to me I may end up laughing. I love Mahal Kita, however.
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September 24, 2007
I know pao!
It’s great when someone goes through that length to show you how special you are to them.
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September 24, 2007
Hi OldLady! Yeah, I know what you mean. I see why you would be reminded of that song.
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September 24, 2007
hello doc thanks for dropping by my site. I will go here more often to ask for love coaching hehehe. Cheers!
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September 24, 2007
Thanks for dropping by, too, bluepanjeet!
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September 25, 2007
My wife has her best memories of us sitting together in the morning with our coffee….talking about yesterday(s) or tomorrow(s) and what we will be doing today. I say intimacy cannot be created “on demand” but can be developed over time spent together. This is an area, I believe, where quanity leads to quality moments that create intimate memories. Just like you can’t hurry a butterfly from its cacoon, you can’t hurry love (yeah I know its a song too!
)
Once you really know someone, saying the words with meaning and often is still necessary I find. Looks and gestures add to the meaning but I have found the spoken/written words reinforce what is already there. And who knows, it could be the last time you say it to that person or hear it from them. So important to live each day to the fullest with one you love the most.
I like the memory jar too!
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September 25, 2007
hi there ms. joy, i love your site.
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September 25, 2007
Hello, Joy.
Thank you for the comments and I replied on my blog.
Russ
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September 25, 2007
I subscribed to your feed, Dr. Joy.
Keep on writing.
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September 25, 2007
gud am ms. joy….may friend ako named JOY BARREDO..nice site here. Nakaka-inlove mag stay. Hehehe…tenkyu for visiting my site..and yes, I’m enjoying the Pilates workout.masakit lang sa una..pero keri na.
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September 25, 2007
id still stick to my own..
proudly pinoy, “iniibig kita, mahal kita, gihigugma ko ikaw!”
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September 25, 2007
teka teka.. nawiwindang ako.. pinay ata si doc? tama po ba? haha. ^_^
hmm.. mukhang may naiisip na ako para kay kumander, thanks for this post!
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September 25, 2007
Hi LeRoy! Exactly what I had in mind, but I didn’t want to sound morbid. One of the reasons ‘I love you’ is the first and last thing I say to my husband is that I think to myself that it could be the last thing I ever say to him - but of course I mean it and that I feel it. Just talking can be such a wonderful thing to do - that quality time. And yes, the more you do it, the closer you become, too.
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September 25, 2007
Eitheryousinkorswim - thanks. Glad you like it.
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September 25, 2007
That’s great Laarni! Will make it easier for you now that you subscribed to the feed.
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September 25, 2007
Thanks chuvaness! Hope you keep coming and feel the love more
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September 25, 2007
Sure parisukat! They sound wonderful to me.
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September 25, 2007
Yes, earthlotus - I’m a very proud Pinoy!
Yeah, use this website to get ideas to help make your relationships even sweeter.
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September 25, 2007
Wonderful pointers! I’ll try that jar of memories. Actually my fiancé and I usually do things together from cooking and eating together as well as cleaning the apt We also watch movies or DVD marathon together. In short we basically do stuff together!
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September 25, 2007
Hi Dr. Joy, the love coach!
I’m here at the office right now. My officemates and I had a good time reading “I love you” in other languages.
I will have to visit your blog often for tips to make the wife happy! Thanks for your visit to my blog.
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September 25, 2007
hi, doc! kumusta po? you have a lovely site. and i like this post.
pero di ba minsan, love has its own language? and sometimes you really don’t need words to love and share that love.
thanks for visiting my blog. take care.
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September 25, 2007
nice try ko yung iba
* 21 Ways to Say I Love You + Follow step by step = another baby again ( joke
)
tc joy
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September 25, 2007
Oh yes, chase - doing things together is the best!
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September 25, 2007
Indeed rino. You know what they say about a happy wife? (wink)
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September 25, 2007
I agree, salve! Love has a language all its own. In fact I know a number of couples who marry and stay in love despite the fact that they speak different languages.
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September 25, 2007
Let me know, barubal, if a new baby does come into the picture!
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September 26, 2007
Thank you so much for visiting my Portland (OR) Daily Photo on ABC Wednesday. I’m glad you found the J is for Joy photo of the newly married couple.
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September 26, 2007
Wonderful!
I am always looking for new ways to say “I love you!”
I write new love notes every day, say “I love you” first thing on arising and last thing on going to sleep, fix special meals.
I write love poems and make art pieces for my sweetie.
I publish some of them on 1 million love messages. If anyone else writes poems or does art or writes love notes, they might consider letting Mauro publish them on his blog. He’s trying for a million! Mary
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September 26, 2007
We ALWAYS hold hands in public and people look at us and smile.
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September 26, 2007
nice tips ms.joy heheheh btw thanks for visiting my blog!
xiao!
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September 26, 2007
Good on you, Mary! You and your significant other are so loved up.
And hey, I may contribute to that million love messages.
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September 26, 2007
Thanks, brath!
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September 26, 2007
Fantastic ideas. A lot of them are very creative, no doubt.It’s amazing how things like this are very common and yet you probably overlook. I’ll try and do some of those a bit more frequently.
Thanks
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September 27, 2007
hi doc!
nice site… i’ll keep coming back here..
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September 27, 2007
Hi blogOloco. Thanks for swinging by. Let me know how you get on with those ideas
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September 27, 2007
Thanks for the kudos, rhapsody! I look forward to your next visit.
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September 28, 2007
@ joy - i will indeed. But you know what, i quite to link up to all the pinoy bloggers based here in the UK. I’m struggling to find them at present. Seems it’s just the three of us. Plus kikomatsing who is based in Ireland
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September 28, 2007
I’m sure there are others blogOloco - but you know what Pinoys are like. Ooh - try Friendster. I think there are some Pinoys who use it to blog. Personally, I can’t stand Friendster.
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September 29, 2007
hi joy, your tips rock
my husband did good on your list, he’s been doing at least 13 of them regularly!
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September 29, 2007
You’re one lucky woman, kengkay! And what do you do for your husband?
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September 29, 2007
i have 101 ways to say i love you
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September 30, 2007
Wow! Thank you for the great tips! God Bless!
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September 30, 2007
Hi kengkay! Actually, there is a book called 10,000 Ways To Say I Love You, but they’re not as meaningful. I intend to post more ideas on how to say ‘I love you’ creatively and more meaningfully - but please feel free to share! You can post them in the forum.
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September 30, 2007
Thanks for stopping by Kiko!
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September 30, 2007
joy, i preferred somebody says, I LOVE U”..as long its coming from sincerity from BIG BANG OF HEART” ..isnt it?
who cares, MAHAL KITA, ICH LIEBE DICH “..anything goes..:)
thanks, Meds W!
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September 30, 2007
I couldn’t agree more, Meds! A sincere ‘I love you’ is more than enough to send my heart a-flutter
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January 17, 2009
love by sean royal
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August 29, 2009
my impression is that ‘iniibig kita’ in the tagalog language means “im loving you”… i think its more correct to say “mahal kita” which when translated means “i love you”…
sowwee.. juss wanted to share that..
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