Categories: Learn Korean

5 Ways to Say I Love You in Korean (According to K-Drama)

When it comes to learning Korean, probably the most familiar term is how to say I love you in Korean. Love is universal language so it makes sense if ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด์š” (saranghaeyo) is our first Korean vocabulary. This term appears in almost every K-drama. There must be a scene for love confession. Actually, there are several ways to say I love you in Korean. We will discuss them in this section. We should remember that Korean language consists of 3 basic speech levels: formal, casual, and informal (banmal). What you should notice is the kind of occasions and with whom you are talking to. The sentence depends on what kind of circumstances you are in.

1. ์ข‹์•„ํ•˜๋‹ค (Johahada) โ€“ Common Way to Say I Love You in Korean

Source: The Swoon

We begin with the basic way to express our love feeling. ์ข‹์•„ํ•˜๋‹ค (Johahada) is the basic form and means โ€œto likeโ€. For informal way, you may say ์ข‹์•„ํ•ด (johahae). If you prefer casual but still polite way, ์ข‹์•„ํ•ด์š” (johahaeyo) is enough. However, if you are talking to older people or are in the formal occasions, you should say ์ข‹์•„ํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค (johahamnida). The meaning is obvious: I like you. Based on grammatical pattern, the complete sentence is ์ €๋Š” ๋„ˆ๋ฅผ ์ข‹์•„ํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค (jeoneun neoreul johahamnida). ์ € (Jeo) is subject pronoun for โ€œIโ€ followed by subject particle -๋Š” (-neun). ๋„ˆ (Neo) is object pronoun for โ€œyouโ€ followed by object particle -๋ฅผ (-reul). However, if itโ€™s a direct speech, you may drop the subject/ object and just say ์ข‹์•„ํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค.

2. ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•˜๋‹ค (Saranghada) โ€“ Popular Way to Say I Love You in Korean

Source: ๊ณ ๋ชฝ YouTube

I believe ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด์š” (saranghaeyo) is the popular Korean term. Perhaps this is our very first vocabulary in Korean. Its meaning is obvious: I love you. It derives from the base form ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•˜๋‹ค (saranghada). ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด (Saranghae) is informal or banmal form. ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ด์š” (Saranghaeyo) is polite way but it sounds more casual. If you are in formal occasions (such as wedding ceremony) or are talking to older people (such as parents), you should say ์‚ฌ๋ž‘ํ•ฉ๋‹ˆ๋‹ค (saranghamnida). The grammatical rule is same with ์ข‹์•„ํ•˜๋‹ค explanation in point 1. You may drop the subject/ object for direct speech and just say the verb itself.

3. ์‚ฌ๊ท€๋‹ค (Sagwida)

Source: Diggle

Whatโ€™s the next step after saying I love you in Korean? Ask your crush to get along! ์‚ฌ๊ท€๋‹ค (Sagwida) means โ€œto date, get along, or go outโ€. Itโ€™s a chance to get closer each other. If you want to ask him/ her to date, just say ์šฐ๋ฆฌ ์‚ฌ๊ทˆ๋ž˜์š” (uri sagwillaeyo). It means โ€œLetโ€™s dateโ€ (์šฐ๋ฆฌ = us). Alternatively, you can say ๋‚˜๋ž‘ ์‚ฌ๊ทˆ๋ž˜์š”? (Narang sagwillaeyo). ๋‚˜ (Na) is object pronoun for โ€œmeโ€ and added by particle -๋ž‘ (-rang) that means โ€œwithโ€. ๋‚˜๋ž‘ ์‚ฌ๊ทˆ๋ž˜์š”? (Narang sagwillaeyo) means โ€œDo you want to date with me?โ€. Surely both sentences sound polite. If you prefer the informal way, just drop suffix -์š” from the verb.

4. ๊ฒฐํ˜ผํ•˜๋‹ค (Gyeorhonhada)

Source: KBS Drama

Letโ€™s bring your love to the next level, marriage or ๊ฒฐํ˜ผ (gyeorhon) in Korean. ๊ฒฐํ˜ผํ•˜๋‹ค (Gyeorhonhada) means โ€œto get marryโ€. How to ask someone to marry us? You can say ๋‚˜๋ž‘ ๊ฒฐํ˜ผํ•˜์ž (narang gyeorhonhaja). ๋‚˜ (Na) is object pronoun for โ€œmeโ€ and -๋ž‘ (-rang) is particle โ€œwithโ€. ๊ฒฐํ˜ผํ•˜์ž (Gyeorhonhaja) is basically from ๊ฒฐํ˜ผํ•˜๋‹ค (gyeorhonhada) added by particle -์ž (-ja) to indicate asking someone to do something (marry). So, it means โ€œmarry meโ€ in English.

5. ์งˆํˆฌํ•˜๋‹ค (Jiltuhada) โ€“ Another Way to Say I Love You in Korean

Source: tv N drama

Jealousy or ์งˆํˆฌ (jiltu) is an implicit way to say I love you in Korean. Itโ€™s normal to get jealous if we are in a relationship or seeing him/her with other. However, people tend to not show their jealousy and even hide it although we can clearly see their expression. So, you may ask ์งˆํˆฌํ•ด์š”? (Jiltuhaeyo). It means โ€œAre you jealous?โ€ And 99,99% they will deny it and react ์งˆํˆฌ ์•ˆํ•ด์š” (jiltu anhaeyo) or โ€œI am not jealousโ€.

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