How to Say I Love You in French

The phrase you're looking for is "je t'aime" (zhuh tehm), which means "I love you." It's used broadly in French — between romantic partners, but also within families and among very close friends, more like how English speakers use "I love you" for people beyond just a partner.

Here's the trap almost every beginner falls into: "je t'aime bien" does not mean "I love you a lot." Adding "bien" actually softens the phrase rather than intensifying it — "je t'aime bien" means "I like you" (or "I like you a lot," in a genuinely affectionate but non-romantic sense), not a stronger version of love. Saying "je t'aime bien" to someone you're romantically interested in can land as a letdown, since it reads as friendly rather than romantic. If you mean love, leave "bien" out entirely: just "je t'aime."

For something more explicit or more intense than the everyday "je t'aime," French has "je suis amoureux de toi" (if you're male) or "je suis amoureuse de toi" (if you're female) — "I'm in love with you." This phrase is more exclusively romantic and more of a declaration than "je t'aime," which, as noted above, also does everyday duty for family and close friends. If context alone doesn't make your meaning obvious, "je suis amoureux/amoureuse de toi" removes any ambiguity.

A useful cultural comparison if you're also learning Spanish: French doesn't split "I love you" the way Spanish splits te quiero and te amo into two distinct everyday phrases — French mostly relies on one core phrase, je t'aime, doing broad duty across relationships, with amoureux/amoureuse de as the add-on for explicitly romantic, more intense declarations.

Romantic and family vocabulary like this is exactly the kind of everyday, real-conversation content Passage's Vocabulary and Grammar sections build toward — a natural next stop once single phrases start turning into full sentences.