The other variations you might have heard of 愛している (aishiteiru) and 愛しています (aishiteimasu) are more formal but mean exactly the same. So with the phrase 愛してる (aishiteru) you literally say “ (I) am loving” but the message you convey and the meaning is “ I love you“. Omitting the subject and even the object is a very common practice in everyday Japanese and while it might feel counter-intuitive adding them will just make you sound unnatural. Unlike in English, the words “I” and “you” are implicit and therefore not needed. So if you translate the phrase 愛してる (aishiteru) to English in its most literal way it actually means “ loving” or “ am loving“. してる (shiteru) or している (shiteiru) is the present continuous form of する (suru) and translates as “ doing” or “ is doing“. If we break it down even further we actually have the word for love 愛 (ai) and the verb する (suru) which means “ to do“. 愛 (ai) is the Japanese word for “ love” and 愛する (aisuru) means “ to love“.
Totemo aishite imasu how to#
So let’s take a look at how the Japanese really convey their love and how to say “I love you, too”. If you want to confess your feelings or express your love to someone, there are better ways and phrases to do so. This might be surprising but most couples – even married ones – will never use this phrase to say “I love you” in Japanese. But it expresses such a sincere and deep love that Japanese only use it in long-term relationships with their spouse and very emotional situations such as getting married or when someone is on their death bed. The literal translation of “Aishiteru” (愛してる) is “I love you” or “I’m in love with you”.
After living in Japan for several years I finally understood what “Aishiteru” really means in Japanese and why it is hardly ever used in real life. But while it is fairly easy to translate the phrase into English words, its true meaning is so much deeper.
One of the most used Japanese phrases in romantic anime, manga, movies, and Japanese dramas is “ Aishiteru“.