ယအဲၣ်နၤ
ya eh na
The English phrase "I love you" is translated into Karen as ယအဲၣ်နၤ (ya eh na).
This phrase is used as an affirmation of romantic feeling.
Meaning: affirmation of romantic feeling (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the pronoun ယ (I), the verb အဲၣ် (love) and the pronoun နၤ (you).
How does it change in a sentence?
In this sentence structure, the verb အဲၣ် (to love) is placed between the subject and the object.
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is ya eh na.
Did you know?
- The pronoun နၤ for 'you' is often replaced with specific kinship terms like 'older brother' or 'older sister' even in romantic contexts to show respect.
- While 'I love you' is a direct statement, Karen culture often favors more indirect, action-based ways of showing affection rather than verbalizing the phrase.
- The word အဲၣ် used for 'love' can also be used to describe a deep fondness for objects or food, meaning the same word covers both romantic and non-romantic affection.
Examples in context
- ယအဲၣ်နၤ။ya ae na.I love you.
Example conversation
A couple is talking before saying goodbye.
- နုနု Nu Nuစောဘေ၊ ယအဲၣ်နၤဒိၣ်မး။Saw Boe, ya ae na doe maSaw Boe, I love you very much.
- စောဘေ Saw Baeယအဲၣ်နၤဒိၣ်မးကဒါလီၤ။ya ae na doe ma ka da leeI love you very much too.
- နုနု Nu Nuနၤမ့တဖျိၣ်တဖျိၣ်နၤ။na me ta phyo ta phyo naYou are so sweet.
- စောဘေ Saw Baeယအဲၣ်နၤတကွၢ်တနီၤ။ya ae na ta kwa ta neeI will love you forever.
