How to Say “I Love You” in English | Valentine’s Day 💘

Video Transcript
Section 1
Well hello I’m Emma from mmmEnglish! Today I’m gonna share some different and some more meaningful ways to say “I love you”.

Now, of course, it’s lovely to say “I love you” but it’s a really overused expression in English. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we use it a lot to talk about friends, family members, pets, places, even food. We use it all the time! So when the time comes to really deeply and genuinely mean it, there are some better English phrases to use, stronger and more meaningful ways to express your love. Let me show you!

It really doesn’t matter who you love, love is love. But you can use these expressions to help you share that feeling with whoever you love but since it’s Valentine’s Day, let’s start deep, deep and meaningful. Have you heard of that word ‘deep’ being used to talk about emotions? Strong emotions, really personal feelings that affect you deeply inside. Later on, I’m going to share some expressions that are casual, perhaps a little more appropriate to the start of a relationship when you don’t want to be too serious about your feelings. Plus, I’m gonna share one that’s often used incorrectly. It’s kind of outdated but it gets overused by English learners. I definitely don’t think that you should use it.

In English, we can go beautifully deep with some idioms that we use to say “I love you” and my personal favourite is…

I love you to the moon and back

So we’re taking “I love you” and we’re making it even more special with this expression. We’re taking that love to the moon and all the way back again – that’s a long way! That distance is expressing how much love we have but just in case you were thinking about some other far-off destinations, don’t switch it. Okay it doesn’t work with other destinations.

I love you to the shops and back.

It hasn’t really got that same romantic vibe about it, does it? When you’re talking about love, when you’re talking about a deep love, we need to express the scale of it, you know, like how enormous are those feelings, how enormous is that love?

I really love hearing how idioms translate across languages so I want to know if you’ve got any of your own that you use in your own languages to talk about this deep beautiful love. If you can, write it into the comments below. I want you to write it in your own language but then translate it into English as well. Many times I think that other languages do a much better job of translating or expressing those feelings of love and passion so I’m definitely looking forward to reading yours in the comments.

You make my world go round

In English, you might hear people say “You make my world go round”. Our planet goes around the sun and this creates night and day and the seasons. So many things that are really, really important to our survival, you know, we rely on our planet going around the sun. And in English, there are two things that make the world go round which means they’re extremely important. Without them, we can’t function, we can’t survive.

Now money is one of those things. You might have heard that expression before, “money makes the world go round” but thankfully, love is the other thing that makes the world go round.

So we say to the person that we love “You make my world go round” alright to that person when you tell them that they make your world go round, you’re telling them that they’re incredibly important to you. You’re saying that you can’t function without them.

A really important note for my English learners watching, this expression is not used with the word ‘around’. “You make my world go around” sounds really odd, okay? It’s just “You make my world go round” – Just a little reminder because that’s an easy mistake to make.

You can also say…

You are my world
You are my everything

So these are both more romantic ways of saying you’re the most important thing or the most important person in my life.

We were made for each other

This idiom is about destiny and fate. Of all the people in this whole world, it’s as if we were designed and created specifically for each other. There is no one else in the world more perfectly suited.

Interestingly you can also use this expression to talk fondly about someone else’s relationship but to say that they are perfect for each other. They’re made for each other. This is unlike the other idioms that I mentioned.

You can’t say “They love each other to the moon and back” That’s weird.

But you can use this one to talk about your own relationship but also other people’s.

I’d be lost without you

This expression is not just about love, it’s about showing your appreciation for someone that they’re so significant in your life, that you don’t know what you would do without them.

So you could even use it if someone did something for you that really helped you out, like they helped you to move house when you’d broken your arm. Then you could say to that person “I’d be lost without you. I don’t know how I would have done it.”

So with all of these beautiful expressions in mind, why don’t you practise using them by writing your lover a little English love note? It’s Valentine’s Day after all. There is no better time to be practising expressing your love for someone in English, even if your partner doesn’t know much English, they’re going to be blown away by how much love and effort went into that little note.

If you want some extra writing tips from me then check out this lesson up here.

Now let’s go way back to the start of a relationship when you’re full of passion and lust. Have any of you just started a relationship with someone and you’re still in the early days? Do you love them yet? Or maybe you’re falling in love? Even just saying “I love you” can be scary, it’s like a huge commitment, right? Maybe you’re a little worried that the other person’s not ready to say it back to you. So you might want to keep it a little light, you know, maybe you don’t want to go so deep. So let’s try a few less formal, less serious expressions.

I’m crazy about you

This is a less formal way of saying I love you. If you’re not a hundred per cent sure whether the other person is ready to say “I love you” back to you then definitely go for this one. It’s going to show them that you’re pretty serious about your relationship and ready to take it another step further.

Whatever you do, do not say “I’m head over heels for you” I think that that’s a really weird and old-fashioned way of telling someone that you love them. It’s written in lots of English language textbooks so I want to know if other native English speakers, if you’re watching, if you agree you would never tell someone “I’m head over heels for you”, right?

It’s more something that you would observe in another couple. Maybe if your teenage son had just started dating a girl and you know, they were really really cutely in love and you might tell your friends “They’re head over heels for each other.” They’re just crazy about each other.

I think ‘crazy about you’ is a little more contemporary, you know? ‘head over heels’ is a bit old-fashioned.

I adore you

One that is definitely not cheesy is “I adore you”. This is a sweet, lovely way of letting someone know that you love them, that they hold a special place in your heart.

I’m falling for you

If you’re not quite ready to say the words “I love you”, then these ones are a good option because we use them when you’re in between really liking someone and loving them so of course, the expression relates to that idea of falling in love which is something I talked about in more detail in this video up here and so, you know, ‘I’m falling for you’ is like, you know letting someone know that it’s happening, you know, this idea of love and falling in love. It’s happening. It’s in the process.

So today’s the day my friends, the day of love if you’re watching this video as I release it. So I want to know do you have plans to celebrate Valentine’s Day today? Do you usually celebrate? Or maybe you have a completely different day to celebrate love in your country. Or maybe you’re like me and you think that Valentine’s Day is all commercial garbage and that actually every day is a day to show love to your partner.

I really hope that I’ve taught you some new expressions to help you express your deep passionate love in English which reminds me, if you love mmmEnglish, then I hope you’ve subscribed to the channel. Make sure you do if you haven’t already and you can always practise your natural English expression, your pronunciation, your facial expressions with me in the mmmEnglish Imitation Series. They are a brilliant way of practising speaking English with passion and with feeling so make sure you check them out.

Anyway I’ll see you in the next lesson. Bye for now!