# te quiero vs te amo, etc.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/te-quiero-vs-te-amo-etc/333125>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 28, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/te-quiero-vs-te-amo-etc/333125 "2005-11-28T22:41:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/te-quiero-vs-te-amo-etc/333125/21 "2005-11-30T18:07:13Z")

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I had a similar conumdrum with an Italian ex. He always said ‘Ti voglio bene’, My initial reaction was, not speaking Italian at the time, what does that mean? “It’s like I love you but not quite” - hurumph charming, not !!

But then I started to listen out for it on Italian TV / films they almost always say ‘Ti voglio bene’ when the English version would have ‘I love you’ so even though there is a difference I think it essentially comes down to the fact that the ‘love’ verb is saved for the really special times whereas in English we don’t really have much choice and use ‘love’ more readily. I don’t think you should get upset over it. Yes there are direct translations for ‘I Love You’ but language is seldom a question of mere word to word translation. It’s a Latin thing, the Italian and Spanish speakers ‘want’ you the Catalans _esteem_ you! IIRC correctly they say ‘Ti éstimo’ (spelling may not be right) and this form would even be used in graffiti.

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/te-quiero-vs-te-amo-etc/333125/22 "2005-11-30T20:12:20Z")

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> [@Cat Jones](#):
>
> It’s a Latin thing, the Italian and Spanish speakers ‘want’ you the Catalans _esteem_ you! IIRC correctly they say ‘Ti éstimo’ (spelling may not be right) and this form would even be used in graffiti.

Close. It’s “t’estimo” (Barcelona Catalan; it’s slightly different in other regions - “t’estime” in Valencia, if I remember right.) Say “t@ STEE moo” (@ representing a schwa), /t@ 'sti mu/ in SAMPA.

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**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/te-quiero-vs-te-amo-etc/333125/23 "2005-11-30T20:26:58Z")

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Mexican checking in:

**Te Quiero** in everyday use is your standard issue “I love you”. You would say it to your family and to your close friends and to a girl/boyfriend.

**Te Amo** definately means I Love You but in a much more profound way than Te Quiero, sort of like saying “I’m in love with you” even though there’s also a phrase in spanish that means that (estoy enamorado de ti). You would say it to your family and to your SO but not to your friends, even close ones; boy/girlfriends you would only tell them Te Amo if you really loved them.

As to why he doesn’t want you to say to him “te quiero”, well, he probably just wants to hear “te amo” from you.

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