Gloria, how do I say ‘you are beautiful’ in Spanish?, a good friend of mine asked me a few months ago. And I started thinking and thinking… and of course, I needed more context, more information… There were several ways to say it!
My friend (English speaker) met a girl from Chile whom he was having a conversation with, and he wanted to say something nice to her in Spanish. A lovely gesture! And just like him, perhaps you would also like to have a repertoire of romantic phrases in Spanish to say something nice to a Spanish speaker who is special to you.
The truth is that, there is no better way to touch a person’s heart than by speaking to them in their native language, the words feel different.
So, here is a collection of romantic phrases in Spanish, from the moment we see someone we like, until we take the big step to spend the rest of our lives together.
I will write another article in the future with phrases of heartbreak in Spanish, because today we are going to have…
A happy ending!
To begin our list of romantic phrases in Spanish, let’s start at the very beginning, as it happened to my friend. That is, you meet someone in a bar, on a trip, at a conference, at the airport… and you like her. You want to talk to this person, get to know her, know information about her. And your intentions are clear, you have a personal and romantic interest in her.
What you are about to start doing, that action, that verb, is called ‘ligar’ (flirting). There are three variants of this verb, depending on the intensity:
Let’s see three examples in context:
The first thing you need to know in this context is if the person is available, romantically speaking. So, after asking for her name and where she is from… you have to try asking one of these questions:
Once you know that the person is available, romantically speaking, we go on the attack. I understand that you are not an advanced speaker, so let’s keep the conversation simple and easy:
We continue with our list of romantic phrases in Spanish. After that first coffee or that first walk, things have gone well between you two (remember that we are heading to a happy ending).
You are super comfortable with this person and your feelings are authentic, strong and genuine. You want to tell her, but… How?
To say ‘I love you’, we have two options for romantic phrases in Spanish: ‘te quiero’ and ‘te amo’.
Both are good in this context.
The only difference between them is that you can use ‘te quiero’ with your dad, your mom, your kids, your sister, your friend, your pet… also your partner. However, we use ‘te amo’ only in a romantic context, with your partner.
I repeat, both are good in this context. What you need in this case is not your Spanish skills, but the courage and honesty to tell what you feel to the person you love.
The Spanish-speaking person with whom you have fallen in love and whom you love with all your heart is part of your life. She is your partner. In our daily routine, with the people we love, we use these affectionate names:
The truth is that we can use the first two affectionate names (‘cariño’ and ‘mi vida’) with our partners, but it is also very common for our elders (grandparents, parents, uncles…) to use it with the youngest members of the family.My auntie Charo, for example, is a very loving and expressive person with her feelings. She adores us. And she always addresses her nieces using these affectionate names. Almost every week she tells me: “Glori, mi vida, tienes que ir a nadar para que no te duela la espalda.”
We are going to finish our list of romantic phrases in Spanish with the big question: will you marry me?
Nowadays, many couples decide not to take this step because they feel that they do not need it. Some couples decide to dive into it for practical reasons, because legally getting married has implications, but they do not celebrate with a big party.
But that is not the case at hand. The protagonist of our story dreams of a romantic, traditional wedding, surrounded by his friends and family. He wants to celebrate love in style with his great love, who is Spanish-speaking, and the fact that they have decided to spend the rest of their lives together.
So, you can choose one of these two options:
Do you think it’s strange if the story in this article comes true?
We are in a globalised world where we travel to other countries, study and work abroad, attend congresses and conferences where people come from all over the world… I, without going any further, have dated a Canadian, a Kenyan and an Englishman. I didn’t have a happy ending with any of them! 😂😂 But it could have happened, if they had used any of the romantic phrases in Spanish in this article!
60% of my youngest students (children and teenagers) have a bilingual family in which the father or mother is Spanish-speaking and wants their son or daughter to learn Spanish. Not only to speak, but also to listen to different accents of Spanish, to read texts in Spanish (adapted to their age) and, especially, to write in Spanish. If this is your case, or if you know a bilingual family, I invite you to take a look at our online Spanish classes for children and our online Spanish classes for teenagers. You can book a trial class with one of our accredited native teachers and meet us today.
