# Quick Help with Yiddish Phrase! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566 "2010-04-18T22:21:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/1 "2010-04-18T22:21:48Z")
Can anyone confirm (or correct) that “Ikh hob dikh lib” means “I love you”? Need to be certain before I get it engraved on girlfriend’s bracelet. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/2 "2010-04-18T22:34:27Z")
[Looks like it.](http://www.linguanaut.com/english_yiddish.htm) (Sixth entry from the bottom) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/3 "2010-04-18T22:45:03Z")
Are you going to use the Hebrew alphabet? ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/4 "2010-04-18T23:02:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Are you going to use the Hebrew alphabet? Unfortunately, the engraver doesn’t have Hebrew characters. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/5 "2010-04-18T23:28:18Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Unfortunately, the engraver doesn’t have Hebrew characters. I could give this to you in vector format (HPGL or PDF) if you want. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/6 "2010-04-19T02:13:11Z")
Hmm…in German, “Ich hab’ dich lieb.” (which looks like the pronunciation of what you wrote) means “I like you.” or “I care for you.” “Ich liebe dich.” is “I love you.” However, I cannot be sure that the Yiddish translation would be the same - perhaps there is some subtle difference in Yiddish, but as a direct “sound only” translation, it is more of an “I like you” than an “I love you” - at least in German. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/7 "2010-04-19T02:21:08Z")
ikh lieb dikh ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/8 "2010-04-19T02:21:24Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Hmm…in German, “Ich hab’ dich lieb.” (which looks like the pronunciation of what you wrote) means “I like you.” or “I care for you.” > > “Ich liebe dich.” is “I love you.” > > However, I cannot be sure that the Yiddish translation would be the same - perhaps there is some subtle difference in Yiddish, but as a direct “sound only” translation, it is more of an “I like you” than an “I love you” - at least in German. That’s what I was thinking. Yiddish is really close to German and that would be like “I have you love” or “I have love for you”. According to [this website](http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/2R95.html), it could be said in two different ways in Yiddish: yiddish Ich libe dich yiddish Ich han dich lib ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/9 "2010-04-19T07:55:04Z")
Yes, ikh hob dikh lib is correct, and even transliterated correctly according to [YIVO](http://www.yivoinstitute.org/yiddish/alefbeys_fr.htm) standards. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/10 "2010-04-19T12:44:50Z")
I don’t seem to know any nice Yiddishisms. I wonder what that says about me? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/11 "2010-04-19T13:26:04Z")
I have to ask… why Yiddish? Is your girlfriend 80 years old? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-help-with-yiddish-phrase/536566/12 "2010-04-19T15:25:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I have to ask.. why Yiddish? Is your girlfriend 80 years old? Yeah, what kind of meshuga thing is that to do?