I Love You in Bulgarian: Обичам те and Related Phrases

I love you in Bulgarian: Обичам те

I love you in Bulgarian is Обичам те (Obicham te), pronounced o-BI-cham te [oˈbit͡ʃɐm tɛ]. It is the phrase partners say to each other, parents say to children, and friends sometimes say to friends. Bulgarian uses the same verb, обичам (obicham), for romantic love and family love.

Word by word, обичам means “I love,” and те means “you” (informal, one person). Bulgarian verbs carry the person in their ending, so the word for “I,” аз (az), is usually left out. The ending -ам already tells you it is “I.”

Bulgarian	Say it	Meaning	Hear
Обичам те	Obicham te	I love you	▶
Аз те обичам	Az te obicham	I love you (stressing “I”)	▶
И аз те обичам	I az te obicham	I love you too	▶
Обичам те много	Obicham te mnogo	I love you very much	▶
Обичам ви	Obicham vi	I love you (plural or polite)	▶

Обичам те, Обичам ви and word order

The small word те is a clitic: a short, unstressed pronoun that leans on the verb. It cannot start a sentence. That is why you say Обичам те or Аз те обичам, but never Те обичам on its own. If you add аз at the start, the pronoun moves before the verb.

Обичам ви uses ви, the plural or polite “you.” Say it to your whole family, a group of friends, or an audience at the end of a concert. It would sound oddly formal to a single partner.

A heads-up for readers who know Russian: те here is the Bulgarian object pronoun “you,” not the Russian word for “they.” The Russian phrase Я тебя люблю is not Bulgarian.

Love, like and being in love

Bulgarian separates three ideas that English often blurs. Choose the verb to match how serious you are.

Bulgarian	Say it	Meaning	Hear
Харесвам те	Haresvam te	I like you	▶
Влюбен съм в теб	Vlyuben sam v teb	I’m in love with you (said by a man)	▶
Влюбена съм в теб	Vlyubena sam v teb	I’m in love with you (said by a woman)	▶
Липсваш ми	Lipsvash mi	I miss you	▶
Ти си моята любов	Ti si moyata lyubov	You are my love	▶
Обичам те с цялото си сърце	Obicham te s tsyaloto si sartse	I love you with all my heart	▶

Харесвам те is the early-stage “I like you.” It also works for things: Харесвам Пловдив (Haresvam Plovdiv), “I like Plovdiv.” Обичам works for things too, as in Обичам кафе (Obicham kafe), “I love coffee,” so context does the work.

Влюбен and влюбена change with the speaker’s gender because they are adjectives. The verb съм (“I am”) contains the vowel ъ [ɤ], which has no exact English equivalent. It is a short, relaxed sound, a little like the “u” in “but.” Our Bulgarian pronunciation page has audio for it.

Липсваш ми is built the opposite way round from English. Literally it means “you are missing to me,” so the person you miss is the subject.

Terms of endearment

Pet names in Bulgarian also change with gender. Here are common ones you can use safely:

• скъпи (skapi) / скъпа (skapa): “darling, dear” (to a man / to a woman).
• мили (mili) / мила (mila): “dear, sweet” (to a man / to a woman).
• любов моя (lyubov moya): “my love,” to anyone.
• сърце (sartse): “heart,” used like “sweetheart.”
• слънце (slantse): “sun,” used like “sunshine.” The first л in слънце is silent in normal speech.

When writing a message, Bulgarians often sign off with Целувам те (Tseluvam te, “I kiss you”), Целувки (Tseluvki, “kisses”) or Прегръдки (Pregradki, “hugs”).

Saying I love you in Bulgarian on cards and messages

For a card, Обичам те! on its own is perfect. To make it longer, try Обичам те с цялото си сърце or Ти си моята любов. In Bulgaria, 14 February is widely marked as Valentine’s Day. The same date is also Трифон Зарезан (Trifon Zarezan), the traditional feast of wine-growers, so many couples celebrate with a glass of local wine.

If you are typing the phrase, our Cyrillic keyboard lets you click the letters. To put a partner’s name in Cyrillic alongside it, see your name in Bulgarian. In Latin letters, Bulgaria’s official system writes the phrase as Obicham te, with ч always written ch. The full letter table is on our Bulgarian transliteration page, based on Bulgaria’s 2009 Transliteration Act as summarized in the country’s report to the UN.

Reading the phrase letter by letter

Обичам те uses seven different letters. О is “o,” б is “b,” и is “ee” as in “see,” ч is “ch” as in “church,” а is “a” as in “father,” м is “m,” т is “t” and е is “e” as in “bed.” Watch the lowercase т: in Bulgarian handwriting and many Bulgarian fonts it looks like an “m,” as in обичам те. Learn the rest in our guide to Bulgarian letters.

Common mistakes

• Starting with Те. Те обичам is wrong. Say Обичам те or Аз те обичам.
• Using Russian. Я тебя люблю is Russian. The Bulgarian is Обичам те.
• Stressing the first syllable. It is o-BI-cham, with the stress on и.
• Mixing up genders. A woman says влюбена съм, a man says влюбен съм.
• Saying Обичам ви to one partner. Ви is plural or polite. Use те for one person you are close to.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say I love you in Bulgarian?

Say Обичам те (obicham te). It is used between partners and also within families.

How do you say I love you too in Bulgarian?

И аз те обичам (i az te obicham), literally “And I love you.”

How do you say I miss you in Bulgarian?

Липсваш ми (lipsvash mi). Literally it means “you are missing to me.”

What is the difference between обичам and харесвам?

Обичам means “love” and харесвам means “like.” Харесвам те is the lighter “I like you.”

Can I say Те обичам?

No. Те is an unstressed pronoun that cannot start a sentence. Say Обичам те or Аз те обичам.

Sources

• Romanization System in Bulgaria (UN conference paper, Republic of Bulgaria)
• Bulgarian language (Britannica)
• Bulgarian language (Wikipedia)

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