Cover Photo: A photograph of a calm and secluded beach in Puerto Rico, namely Playa Escondida
Photograph via Discover Puerto Rico

How to Say I Love You in Spanish

You can’t go bigger than “te amo.” No one says “te amo mucho,” because love is already very much.

I had a good time.

quierowant

Though “I like you” doesn’t sound very passionate in English, it is in Spanish, perhaps because quiero can also mean want.

As the months passed, I became ashamed that we hadn’t crossed this basic relationship threshold. I didn’t understand why what seemed so easy for the rest of the world—telling the person you’re sleeping with how you feel—was so difficult for me.

have

“Te amo.” He kissed my nose. “Te amo.” My lips. “Te amo.”

Edgar Gomez (he/she/they) is a Florida-born writer with roots in Nicaragua and Puerto Rico. A graduate of University of California, Riverside’s MFA program, he is a recipient of the 2019 Marcia McQuern Award for nonfiction. His words have appeared in Poets & Writers, Narratively, Catapult, Lithub, The Rumpus, Electric Lit, Plus Magazine, and elsewhere online and in print. His memoir, High-Risk Homosexual, was named a Best LGBTQ Book by Harper’s Bazaar. He lives in New York and Puerto Rico. Find him on Twitter @OtroEdgarGomez.