Russian · phrasebook
I love you in Russian
I love you in Russian is я тебя люблю (ya tebya lyublyu): literally I you love. The object pronoun sits before the verb, and that order is the neutral, natural one, not poetic inversion.
Aurélien CuvelierAug 9, 2026 · Updated Aug 10, 2026The ways to say it
я тебя люблю (ya tebya lyublyu), the phrase
я вас люблю (ya vas lyublyu), formal-plural: classic literature more than modern life
ты мне нравишься (ty mne nravishsya), softer: I like you: the step before love
я тебя обожаю (ya tebya obozhayu), playful-strong: I adore you
How to use it
The verb is любить, and its first person я люблю hides a classic conjugation trap: an л appears out of nowhere (люб- becomes любл-). It is the flagship example of the mutation every -ить verb learner meets.
Because word order is free, я люблю тебя is also correct; putting тебя last adds a touch of emphasis on you. Russians say the flat version я тебя люблю in real life.
Watch out
Ты мне нравишься flips the grammar: the liked person is the subject and the liker is dative (мне). Learners who translate word for word from English routinely say the reverse of what they mean.
More Russian phrases
Every phrase with stress marks, register labels and the grammar behind it.
- Hello in Russian
- Hi in Russian
- Thank you in Russian
- No in Russian
- Yes in Russian
- Good morning in Russian
- Goodbye in Russian
- How are you in Russian
- Cheers in Russian
- Happy birthday in Russian
- Good night in Russian
- Please in Russian
- My love in Russian
- Merry christmas in Russian
- Welcome in Russian
- Sorry in Russian
- Beautiful in Russian
- Happy new year in Russian
- Good evening in Russian
- Excuse me in Russian
- I miss you in Russian
- What is your name in Russian
- You're welcome in Russian
- Stop in Russian
- My name is in Russian
- Darling in Russian
- Good luck in Russian
- Congratulations in Russian
- Nice to meet you in Russian
- Sweetheart in Russian
- Help in Russian
- Bless you in Russian
- Happy easter in Russian
Learn the words behind the phrases
Free forever: reviews, grammar and all the audio.
Written by
Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck
Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck, the app that teaches Russian and French words in context. Each course follows the official proficiency word lists and a frequency corpus for its language, and every word comes with real, annotated example sentences.
More about how NuanceDeck is made ›