How to say “love” in 53 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Malay, where kasih is the 69th most used word.
- Afrikaans liefde #174
- Albanian dashuri #366
- Arabic أحب to love, to like #168
- Armenian սիրո #123
- Basque amore love, affection #548
- Bengali ভালোবাসা to love #443
- Bosnian volim to love #167
- Bulgarian обичам to love #182
- Catalan amor #253
- Chinese 外遇 extramarital relations; love affair #2,248
- Croatian volim to love #177
- Czech láska #814
- Danish elsker to love #164
- Dutch liefde #521
- English jealous Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by… #1,579
- Esperanto amas to love #236
- Estonian armastan to love #277
- Finnish rakastan to love #256
- French aime to love #153
- Galician amor #223
- Georgian სიყვარული #264
- German lieben #647
- Greek αγάπη #277
- Hebrew אהבה love, affection #432
- Hindi प्यार love, strong affection #123
- Hungarian szeretném to love #251
- Icelandic elska #164
- Indonesian sayang #172
- Italian amore #339
- Korean 사랑해 I love you #245
- Latvian mīlu #215
- Lithuanian myliu to love #180
- Macedonian љубов #351
- Malay kasih love, care, affection #69
- Malayalam സ്നേഹം #324
- Norwegian elsker to love #185
- Persian عشق love; passion #267
- Polish kocham to love #260
- Portuguese amor #269
- Romanian iubesc to love #295
- Russian любовь #524
- Serbian volim to love #171
- Slovak láska #401
- Slovenian ljubezen #269
- Spanish amor #249
- Swedish älskar to love #165
- Tagalog pag-ibig love; attraction; fondness; strong affection;… #492
- Tamil காதல் love, attachment, affection, strong liking #210
- Telugu ప్రేమ love, affection, kindness, tender regard #92
- Turkish seviyorum to love #242
- Ukrainian любов #815
- Urdu محبت #171
- Vietnamese mến to love; to like; to be fond of #1,484
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.