¿Te quiero = Te amo = I love you?

Question

How do english speakers to differ "te quiero" that it's used with friends, from "te amo" used with couples? And also i have a song that use both phrases and i don't want to repeat "i love you". It's really weird say to a friend "te amo", when you are trying to say "te quiero", cause in Latinamerica and Spain, if you say "te amo" to a friend when you already have a couple, that means that you are cheating, so they must have a word or phrase to say "te quiero". Also, about the song. How do you translate this part without repeat? "Amor te quiero. Amor te adoro. Amor te amo. Amor te extraño."

Welcome to SpanishDict. It is mandatory to use proper capitalization and punctuation on this site. Please click on the edit button and correct. - rac1, Jun 1, 2016

Answer 1

It depends. We might say "I like you" if the friendship is new. We might say "I love you as a friend" if there's confusion about whether the speaker might have romantic feelings for the friend. If the friendship is well established and both parties understand that it is a treasured friendship with no sexual component, then we might just say "I love you."

One of my friends sometimes says jokingly, "I love you in a non-lesbo kind of way." I've heard guys who are really good friends say, "Love ya, bro." I guess the "bro" part is meant to make it clear that nothing sexual or romantic is being expressed.

Great answer, Ann :) - FELIZ77, Jun 1, 2016

Answer 2

There is a wonderful thread on this, done by one of our moderators, Ray 76. It is titled, "How to say 'I love you' in Spanish. If you don't see it in the Q&A, here's a link.

Link to Love

There are several good answers in there including my two centavo's worth.

Answer 3

Hello Paul,

Great question

Spanish is much more specific than English and has in my view a richer and more extensive vocabulary We do not differentiate in the English language between when we speak the words I love you to a couple or single friend because we only have one verb meaning to love unlike the Spanish who use the verb querer for family and friends and amor between married couples or those in a long term relationship! ( In Biblical Greek we use 4 different words to describe the different kind of Love but English sadly only uses one)

I hope this helps

I have a good answer on this somewhere. I'll look for it. - Daniela2041, Jun 1, 2016