amour
/a.muʁ/masculine
The French word for the noun 'love' is amour.
amour is a masculine noun used to describe the concept of strong affection. When you use the word with an indefinite article, such as un amour, it can refer to a person, meaning a sweetheart or a lover. For expressing the action of loving or liking, you would use the verb aimer instead of this noun.
Meaning: strong affection (noun)
Which one should you use?
While amour is the noun referring to the concept of love, the verb aimer is used to express the action of loving or liking someone or something.
Related words
How do you pronounce it?
/a.muʁ/
What mistakes should you avoid?
Be careful with the verb aimer. While it can mean 'to love' people, English speakers often mistake its intensity. Adding bien to the verb, as in aimer bien, actually weakens the meaning to 'to like'.
Did you know?
- French has a specific term coup de foudre, which literally means 'bolt of lightning' but refers to the feeling of love at first sight.
- While amour is masculine in the singular, it historically becomes feminine in the plural amours when referring to a romantic liaison or a series of loves.
- In French literature and poetry, l'amour courtois refers to 'courtly love', a medieval tradition of idealized, often unattainable longing.
Examples in context
- C'est ça l'amour ?Is this love?This sentence shows how to ask if a situation is love using amour.Tatoeba #606421 by qdii, translation #326263 by CK
- Je veux ton amour.I want your love.This sentence uses amour to express wanting someone's love.Tatoeba #1790159 by sacredceltic, translation #1789308 by Spamster
- Crois en l'amour !Believe in love!This sentence uses amour in an exhortation to believe in love.Tatoeba #1947486 by sacredceltic, translation #1945925 by Scott
- J'adore ton sourire.I adore your smile.
- Je t'aime plus que tout au monde.I love you more than anything in the world.
- Mon chéri/ma chérie, tu es la lumière de ma vie.My dear, you are the light of my life.
- 1168 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Hugo are sitting in a cafe talking about a book.
- LéaCe livre parle d'un amour impossible.This book is about an impossible love.
- HugoL'amour dans les livres est toujours tragique.Love in books is always tragic.
- LéaC'est vrai, mais c'est très beau.It's true, but it is very beautiful.
- HugoJe suis d'accord avec toi, Léa.I agree with you, Léa.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “love” translations and entries amour, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
