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I recently found out that quite a few people want to know how to say I love you in Swedish. Always a useful and beautiful phrase to know.
I thought it would be useful if I put together the ultimate blog post for not only how to say ‘I love you’ in Swedish, but other useful romantic Swedish phrases.
Hopefully, you can either use these now or will be able to use them in the future. Don’t forget to check out the cool infographic at the end of this post!
How to Say I Love You in Swedish
Jag älskar dig. – I love you.
The direct translation is 100% direct
I (jag) love (älskar) you (dig).
I would pronounce it like
yah-g el-scar d-eh
Here you can hear the pronunciation.
How to Say I’m in Love with You
Kär is another word for love, or amorous, and is used when you say “I’m in love with you”.
Jag är kär i dig. – I am in love with you.
You can see “jag” is back, which is I. “är” means is or are. “Kär” is love, “i” is in and “dig” is you. So pretty easy. I am love in you!
It means “I am in love with you”, but “vara kär” can also mean to have a crush on someone.
Other phrases that may be useful:
Jag tycker om dig – I like you
Tycker om is the verb for like. Be careful, you always need the “om”, tycker by itself means to think! So “I think” is “jag tycker” and “I like” is “jag tycker om”.
Examples:
Jag tycker om Sverige – I like Sweden.
Du sjunger vackert – You are beautiful
Jag gillar dig – I like you.
“Jag gillar dig” has the same meaning as “jag tycker om dig” but is a bit more colloquial. Teens can also use this to mean have a crush on.
Terms of Endearment in Swedish
A term of endearment in Swedish is “älskling” which is something you would say to your husband/wife or girlfriend/boyfriend or your children. Not strangers.
älskling – darling
It is kind of like “darling” in American English. Or maybe “love” in British English, though I think that may be used more informally.
You can see älskling comes from the word to love, which is älska.
Other similar phrases:
älskade – lovely
sötnos – sweetheart (literally means sweet nose)
hjärtanskär – sweetheart (literally means heart’s love)
kärlek – love
How to Say “I Miss You”
Jag saknar dig. – I miss you
I would pronounce it like yah-g sak-nar d-eh.
Jag (I) saknar (miss) dig (you).
So “I miss Sweden” would be Jag saknar Sverige.
Hugs and Kisses
Puss och kram! You can often hear this phrase in Sweden.
puss – kiss (peck)
kyss – kiss (with tongue)
kram – hug
Sometimes, kram can come at the end of a letter like (in informal cases):
Kram,
Hilary
which translates to:
Hugs,
Hilary
Puss/Pussar vs Kyss/Kyssar
Both translate to kiss/kisses. However, the difference is kyss is one of the passionate, full out, tongue in the mouth type of kiss. Puss is more of a peck. Pretty cool that in Swedish there is a difference!
Romantic Swedish Vocabulary
There is a great list of 44 romantic phrases that Live Fluent put together. I definitely recommend you check these out, they may become useful!
How to Say I Love You in Swedish Infographic
Jag tycker att du är vackert – I think you are lovely is not really right. If you say “Jag tycker att du är vacker” it means i think youre beautiful, but you cant really say that anybody is “vackert”. You can however say “du sjunger vackert” (your singing is beautiful).
Just wanted to be a real keyboard warrior and say that! haha, thanks for a lovely website though.
Some things are wrong, like “Jag tycker att du är vackert” (should be without a “t” at the end). And you could say “I love you” to family and friends. It is not only romantic.
Have a nice day.