Did you know?
You have learned that the main meaning of the verb aimer is “to like.” For example, J'aime les animaux means “I like animals.” But the expression Je t'aime said directly to someone definitely means “I love you”!
Sometimes, to eliminate confusion, French speakers add an adverb like bien or assez to tone down the emotion a bit.
Par exemple:
| J'aime bien la musique jazz. | I like jazz music. |
| J’aime assez les bananes. | I like bananas. |
Or instead, they might add the adverb beaucoup for emphasis as in:
Ils aiment beaucoup le chocolat!
They like chocolate a lot! They really like chocolate!
You can make aimer stronger with très fort or else use the verb adorer:
| J’aime très fort Sylvie. | I really love Sylvie. |
| J’adore Sylvie. | I adore Sylvie. |
You can soften the expression je n’aime pas (I don’t like) with beaucoup. Par exemple:
Nicolas n’aime pas beaucoup le brocoli.
Nicolas doesn’t much like broccoli.
In English, you might pick the petals off a flower and say “He/She loves me, he/she loves me not”. In French, it’s a little different. This little rhyme might help you remember some of these adverbs!
Il/elle m’aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout.
Translated literally, this saying means “He/ She loves me a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all.” Oh là là!
How do you say a lot in French?
- assez
- bien
- pas du tout
- beaucoup
Sorry that is not correct.
Sorry that is not correct.
Sorry that is not correct.
Correct!
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