This lesson suits upper-intermediate to advanced learners. After listening, scroll down and test your knowledge with our quiz.
Learning notes
Language objective
How to express romantic feelings
Different ways to say ‘I love you’:
- I can’t stop thinking about you.
- I feel like I’ve found my soulmate.
- I’m crazy about you.
- I’m falling for you.
- I love you from the bottom of my heart.
- You rock my world.
- You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
- You make my world go round.
- You make my heart skip a beat.
Colloquial expressions:
A hopeless romantic is a person who continues to believe in romantic love, even when they have not been successful in the past.
Vocabulary:
A date – can be a social or romantic appointment (Let’s go on a date) or the person with whom you have a romantic appointment (My date is running late).
Infatuation – a strong but short-lived passion for someone. I hope this is a passing infatuation.
To have a crush on someone – an informal expression when you have an infatuation with someone. I have a crush on her/ him.
Cultural information:
Every year, on the 14th February, known as St Valentine’s Day, people worldwide celebrate romance, love, and friendship by sending cards, flowers, or chocolates to their loved ones.
Nobody knows how this tradition started, but according to one legend Roman Emperor Claudius II believed that his men would be better soldiers if they weren’t married, so he banned marriage.
But a Catholic saint, St. Valentine, did not follow this rule and conducted the marriage ceremony for Roman soldiers secretly.
One day he was discovered and put in prison, where he wrote letters to his lover and signed them “From your Valentine”, which is maybe why today we call our loved ones our “valentines”.
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands, and waterways throughout Australia.
Hi, my name is Josipa, and I have a confession. Even though I'm a hopeless romantic, I sometimes find it difficult to express my feelings in English. Does that ever happen to you?
By the way, a hopeless romantic is someone who continues to believe in love, even if they haven’t always been successful in the past.
So, if you are a hopeless romantic with the same problem, listen to today's episode where we'll practise different ways to express those warm, fuzzy feelings we feel when we are in love.
And as always, to help us with new expressions, we have reached out to Allan and Claire, who have met to talk about Allan’s recent affair of the heart.
Claire
I can’t believe you finally went on date with that girl you had a crush on. How was it?
Allan
Oh, Claire, I can’t stop thinking about her. I feel like I’ve found my soulmate.
Claire
Oh, look at you all gooey-eyed. It sounds like you’re already crazy about her.
Allan
I’m falling for her hard. She’s amazing!
The phrases we just heard can be used, like Claire and Allan did, to talk about someone else, but you can also use them to say sweet words directly to a person you care deeply about.
But let’s go from the beginning. First, Claire said,
Claire
I can’t believe you finally went on date with that girl you had a crush on.
We all know that a date is a specific day of the month or year. But the word ‘date’ can also represent a social or romantic appointment. And that’s what Claire meant.
However, the word ‘date’ can also mean a person you are going out with on that romantic date.
For example, if I’m running late for a date, the person waiting for me could say,
My date is running late.
Claire also used another word I had to look up in the dictionary. She said Allan went on a date with a girl he had a crush on.
We know that when we crush something, we squash it flat, but ‘to have a crush on someone’ means to be attracted to them.
For example, I could say, "In high school, I had a crush on a boy in the next class".
Or, let’s say your teenage daughter has received a love note, like Valentine’s card, from her schoolmate Jim. You could say,
Jim has a crush on my daughter.
By the way, Valentine's card is a card expressing love or affection, sent, often secretly.
Do you remember what Allan said about his date? Let’s hear him again,
I can’t stop thinking about her.
I can’t stop thinking about you. If you can’t stop thinking about someone, you are infatuated with that person – you have a crush on them.
If you are infatuated with someone, you are constantly thinking about the person and the moments you spent together.
Let’s hear some other phrases we could use to express infatuation with someone.
I'm crazy about you.
You rock my world.
Or we could say the phrase Allan used when he said,
I feel like I found my soulmate.
If you have found your soulmate, you have found your perfect romantic partner or friend.
I’m falling for her hard.Allan
Allan is falling hard for his girlfriend, meaning he is strongly attracted to her and feels he is falling in love with her.
You can also fall out of love with someone, but that’s a topic for another episode.
So far, we have covered some phrases we can use to express the type of feelings that we can experience at the beginning of a relationship.
Now, we will look at the phrases more suitable for couples who have been together for some time.
So, let’s pretend Allan and Claire are that couple, who have been together for a while, and to make things even sweeter, let’s say that today is the most romantic day of the year, Saint Valentine’s Day.
Allan
Happy Valentine, my love. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Claire
I love you from the bottom of my heart.
Wasn’t that sweet!
You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you from the bottom of my heart.
Some other phrases you could say to your sweetheart or write on your Valentine’s card are,
You make my world go round.
You make my heart skip a beat.
Or let’s say you are all dressed up, ready to go out for your Valentine’s date, and your partner looks at you; they come closer, and they whisper in your ear,
You take my breath away.
That means that you are so beautiful that he can hardly breathe!!
All this talk about love is making me feel romantic, and I can’t wait to see if my partner will surprise me for Valentine’s Day. Last year, he wrote me a beautiful letter, and we danced.
And what about you, are you planning something special for Valentine's?
Every year, on 14th February, known as St Valentine’s Day, people worldwide celebrate romance, love, and friendship by sending cards, flowers or chocolates with love messages.
I’m curious how this tradition started, so I invited my colleague from SBS Italian, Domenico Gentile, to share the history of Valentine’s Day with us.
Hi Domenico; thank you for joining us today.
Domenico
Ciao bella, it’s my pleasure to be here.
Josipa
Domenico, I did my research, and it looks like nobody knows how or why 14th February became Valentine’s Day.
Domenico
That’s right. We don’t know for sure, but there are different theories, and they all come from Italy. For example, some people believe St. Valentine’s Day was introduced in the 15th century to replace a very old pagan festival called Lupercalia. At the same time, other people think that on 14th February we pay remember the Catholic saint, St. Valentine, who was executed on that day by Roman Emperor Claudius II.
Josipa
Why was he killed?
Domenico
According to the legend, Emperor Claudius II believed that his men would be better soldiers if they weren’t married, so he banned marriage. But St. Valentine disagreed with the emperor and secretly conducted marriage ceremonies for Roman soldiers. One day he was discovered and put in prison where he fell in love with the jailer's daughter, and when he was taken to be killed on February 14, he sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine". That is why today we call our loved ones our “valentines”.
Josipa
That was pretty crazy, to risk his life in the name of love. But I admire that very much. Have you done anything crazy in the name of love?
Domenico
I did plenty of crazy things for love. But the craziest thing I ever did for love was thirty years ago when I wasn't sure what to get Gabriella, my wife, for Valentine's.
You know, each year, I would buy her presents for birthdays and other occasions, but somehow, I would always get a gift in the wrong size or colour…
There was always something that didn't work with my presents. So that year, I didn’t want to make the same mistake again, so I asked her what would she like from me, and do you know what she said?
Josipa
What?
Domenico
She asked me to stop smoking. And I was a heavy smoker back then.
Josipa
And did you?
Domenico
From that day forward I have never had a single cigarette.
Josipa
Wow. That’s amazing. No wonder Italians have an excellent reputation as romantics. But so do the French. In your opinion, who are better lovers, French or Italians?
Domenico
Let me tell you something. There is no way that anyone, anyone would come close to an Italian.
Josipa
Oh, that’s a pretty strong statement.
Domenico
Yes, because Italians want to make sure that they never fail to show their love at every opportunity. French don’t come close; even if they can offer champagne, love is expressed through words, and we Italians know how to capture our partner with words.
We are unbeatable; we can use words in a way that makes women melt. And history is on our side; just think of Casanova and Rodolfo Valentino. And that’s why we are number one.
A big thank you to our educational consultant Professor Lynda Yates, our guests Domenico Gentile and Krishna Pokhrel, and Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan who voiced the characters of Allan and Claire.
