In today’s lesson we’ll look at an essential phrase that every French learner must know: Je t’aime, meaning “I love you”. Specifically, we’ll have a quick look at the pronunciation and grammar of je t’aime as well as other variants.
Je t’aime
I love you
Je t’aime – I love you in French
Quick grammatical explanation
Je + t’+ aime
Subject + to/at you + verb
The je in French means I. This is the first personal pronoun all students learn. Aime is the frist-person singular (je) form of the verb aimer (to like, to love). The t’ is short for te and an object pronoun that translates to “to you” or “at you”.
Example sentences
This first example would be a great way to start a Valentine’s Day card in French!
Je t’aime. Tu es l’amour de ma vie.
I love you. You are the love of my life.
In this next example sentence, je vous aime also translates to “I love you”. By using vous we’re saying “I love you” to two or more people, as opposed to using te, which is used for a single person. Note that je vous aime could also adressed to a single individual in a formal situation.
Je vous aime. Vous êtes mes amis préféres !
I love you. You are my favorite friends!
Je t’adore
Je t’adore is another way of saying “I love you” and translates directly to “I adore you”. The underlying meaning of je t’adore in French is closer to “I’m very fond of you” or “You’re very special to me”.
Je t’adore. Tu es le meilleur fils du monde !
I adore you! You are the best son in the world!
Je t’aime bien
When adding the adverb bien (well) after je t’aime, the meaning changes to “I like you”, as in “I like you as a friend”. Another translation could also be “I’m fond of you”.
Je t’aime bien. Tu es un bon ami.
I like you. You are a good friend.
Conclusion
Et voilà ! You now know how to use je t’aime in French! Now check out this post covering the famous song Je t’aime…moi non plus (I love you…me neither) by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.
References
