“To love” is “yêu” in Vietnamese. But there is no one phrase to say “I love you” in Vietnamese.
While some other languages have a common phrase to say “I love you”, such as “I love you” in English, “Wo ai ni” in Mandarine, “Aishiteru” in Japanese, “Saranghae” in Korean, etc., in Vietnamese, how you say “I love you” depends on who you’re talking to.
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How to say “I love you” in Vietnamese
In Vietnamese, there is no one word to say “I” or “you”. If you do not remember how to say “I” or “you” in Vietnamese, review this lesson about how to address yourself and others in Vietnamese.
Once you have learned how to say “I” and “you,” you just simply use this formula:
| “I” + yêu + “you” |
Examples
You’re male and you want to say “I love you” to a lover, you say “anh yêu em.”
You want to say “I love you” to a male lover, you say “em yêu anh.”
Now if you want to say “I love you” to your mom, you say “con yêu mẹ.” If you want to say “I love you” to your dad, you say “con yêu ba.”
To family members, it is more common to say “thương” rather than “yêu.” Though “con yêu mẹ” and “con yêu ba” are perfectly acceptable, I hear people say and I myself say “thương” in daily conversation more often when talking to or about family members. For example, I would say “thương mẹ” or “thương ba,” but not “yêu mẹ” or “yêu ba.”
But it could just be personal preference because you will sometimes hear “yêu mẹ,” yêu ba,” etc., in movies, songs and TV shows.
Practice through song
Back when I was little, there was a popular kid’s song called “Em yêu ai?” (“Who do you love?” Or literal translation is “you love who?”). It is not a song that I particularly like, I just remember hearing it a lot when I was a kid. It is a good song to practice listening and speaking because it is a slow song, and the whole song keeps repeating the phrase “I love you” with different pronouns in Vietnamese.
Because it is a kid’s song, it does not have phrases like “em yêu anh” or “anh yêu em”, but it still covers most of the popular pronouns so it’s a good way to practice pronunciation and listening.
You can search online for “Em yêu ai” by Hùng Lân.
You may also hear the word “yêu” in almost every Vietnamese love song on YouTube.