Which one should you use?
While amour is a noun used for the concept of love, the verb aimer is used to express the action of loving or liking. For specific inclinations, you might use aimer beaucoup, aimer bien or vouloir beaucoup to express being strongly inclined towards doing something.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun amour is masculine. Note that when using the verb aimer, adding an adverb like bien to create aimer bien actually weakens the intensity of the word to mean 'to like' rather than 'to love'.
How do you pronounce it?
The word has two syllables and is pronounced /a.muʁ/.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Be careful with the verb aimer. English speakers often mistake its intensity. In French, aimer can mean both 'to love' (people) and 'to like' (things), but adding an adverb like bien (aimer bien) reduces the meaning to 'to like'.
When do people say it?
In French culture, cheek kissing is a common way to greet friends and family.
Did you know?
- The expression le coup de foudre is used to describe falling in love at first sight, but it literally translates to 'a bolt of lightning'.
- The term amour propre does not describe romantic self-love, but instead refers to a person's 'pride' or 'self-esteem'.
- The word amour likely avoided its expected phonetic evolution into ameur due to the influence of the Old Occitan language.
Examples in context
- C'est ça l'amour ?Is this love?This sentence is useful for asking if a situation constitutes love using amour.Tatoeba #606421 by qdii, translation #326263 by CK
- Je veux ton amour.I want your love.This sentence shows how to express a desire for someone's love using amour.Tatoeba #1790159 by sacredceltic, translation #1789308 by Spamster
- Crois en l'amour !Believe in love!This sentence is an exhortation to believe in the concept of love using amour.Tatoeba #1947486 by sacredceltic, translation #1945925 by Scott
- J'ai une grande affection pour ma famille.I have great affection for my family.
- Je voulais te dire que je t'aime de tout mon amour sincère.I wanted to tell you that I love you with all my sincere love.
- J'ai eu un vrai coup de cœur pour ce livre !I had a real crush on this book!
- 1168 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Emma and Lucas are talking about a romantic movie.
- EmmaC'est une belle histoire d'amour.It is a beautiful love story.
- LucasOui, l'amour est vraiment présent dans ce film.Yes, love is truly present in this film.
- EmmaLucas, tu aimes ce genre de films ?Lucas, do you like these kinds of movies?
- LucasOui, j'aime beaucoup ces émotions.Yes, I like these emotions a lot.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “love” translations and entries amour, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries amour, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
