What is the difference between "I Love You" and "I am in Love with You?"

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  1. Lady_E profile image61
    Lady_Eposted 11 years ago

    What is the difference between "I Love You" and "I am in Love with You?"

    Do they mean different things to you? Do you use them in different ways?

  2. Neil Sperling profile image60
    Neil Sperlingposted 11 years ago

    I love you means I care- I give - I send you love.

    I'm in Love with you means - simply being with you makes me feel love everywhere and feel loved all the time..

    my hub "Four Levels of love" takes my answer much deeper

  3. profile image0
    msorenssonposted 11 years ago

    In my opinion only, and only with respect to romantic relationships...I love you is forever and I am in love with you is temporal.

    I love you carries more responsibility than I am in love with you. I am in love with you can change...as in I am in love with you now, but I may no longer be tomorrow, but I will always love you....

    Ideally, when people marry, they will sustain the I am in love with you part  together with the I love you..

    In the final analysis, there is only love..encompassing and eternal and has got nothing to do with bodies and personalities which influence the I am in love with you part.

    Those are my sentiments alone...

  4. algarveview profile image73
    algarveviewposted 11 years ago

    If we are just talking about romantic love, I think, the first has a more eternal tone to it, it is peaceful and full of acceptance, while I am in love with you is more immediate and full of desire... Not that it can't turn into something eternal, but it's not there yet... At least that's how it sounds like, to me, that is.

  5. DeBorrah K. Ogans profile image60
    DeBorrah K. Ogansposted 11 years ago

    When you truly  say  “ I LOVE You,”   you Love them forever!   Love, respect  and trust  grows  continuously along with the relationship with true love. True Love is not selfish and you want what is best for them.
    Saying “I am in  Love with You” with someone is usually an emotional response as  to how they are  feeling now.    For some it can change depending on their feelings,  time and circumstances.   They are more in love with the idea of  love.
    Love is often confused with lust.  I believe that it is  really important that  both parties are on the same page as to how they define love.

    GOD  is LOVE!  God is Eternal so Love is eternal.   His Word defines  “LOVE”  as: “LOVE is patient,  Love is kind,  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight  in evil but rejoices with the TRUTH.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.  Love never fails…”

  6. Yaduvanshi profile image57
    Yaduvanshiposted 11 years ago

    I love you is internal from depths of heart
    I am in love with you is external from heart
    Thats what I understand

  7. lostdogrwd profile image60
    lostdogrwdposted 11 years ago

    in love is a  deep wanted share life love with the person you want to share that  type of intimate love with.  almost a need kind of love , soul mate type.  I care about and have love for the people in my life and the women that I see,( a regular general love for all love)  but not the in type of love that I want to share my life with

  8. libby101a profile image59
    libby101aposted 11 years ago

    I think love has many definitions...for example one kind of love may be a motherly love, or brotherly love or loving your child... to say "I love you" means you love them with a deep love... family, friends, children, etc... But you can also love a "significan't other" and not be "in love" with them! To be in love you adore that person, you don't want to be away from them for any amount of time, you day dream about them, you want to be with them forever... when you look into his or her eyes your heart skips a beat and you get butterflies... that's being "in love"... just loving them means you care deeply but you don't love them with that sparkle!

  9. profile image0
    klarawieckposted 11 years ago

    You can love your dog, but you fall  in-love with a man or a woman who you'd like to share your intimate moments with.

  10. edhan profile image38
    edhanposted 11 years ago

    When I say, I am in love with you meaning that I have the attraction for you. Whereas saying I love you means that I have given my whole heart to you and willing to do anything for you.

  11. IDB profile image40
    IDBposted 11 years ago

    I Love You meaning true love from the deep inside of the heart.
    But
    I am in love with you means it an external attraction only for a while not for for always.

  12. nihar2 profile image60
    nihar2posted 11 years ago

    never thought about this difference... but i guess 'i am in love with you' kind of describe serious love with respect to the opposite sex.

  13. KateWest profile image63
    KateWestposted 11 years ago

    "I love you" is a more active decision to care about someone and feel you want the best for him/her - it is a constant emotion associated with that person, that build and work on. "I am in love with you" is something you are not really in control of, a sometimes temporary emotion you just can't help.

  14. lawrence2012 profile image56
    lawrence2012posted 11 years ago

    "I love you" is a weak version of "I am in love with you".  When you say I love you, it can be to anything and doesn't really hold much meaning.  I love you beer, you are so delicious and I love the way you make me feel (I kind of do).  But when you say I am in love with you beer, that is just weird and a bit pathetic.

    If you really hold deep feelings for somebody, it is appropriate to say I am in love with you.  I think that the I love you is thrown around too much nowadays and doesn't really hold much meaning.

  15. harishshetty140 profile image59
    harishshetty140posted 11 years ago

    I think the best way to describe being in love is when you look at that one certain person and you realize how perfect their imperfections are, how you love every little detail about them, how you imagine yourself growing old with them, and the reverberating effect of that lasting first kiss, all at one time...
    I only say "I love you" to my mom, brother, sister and grandma and to close and old friends, that's it!, but to say "I'm in love with you" is a little bit more special in a romantic relationship...

  16. LacretiaHardy profile image60
    LacretiaHardyposted 11 years ago

    I absolutely think they are different.  You can say "I Love You" to your kids, your boss, your customers... but to say "I am in Love with You" implies that it's something that has taken over and rendered you helpless.  Loving someone can be a choice.  You can choose to display love to someone.  Being in love with someone is an experience that the heart chooses on its own.

  17. Clive Donegal profile image67
    Clive Donegalposted 11 years ago

    Well, I love my sons, but if I told them that I am in love with them, they would probably avoid me.
    In one sense, love is general. It is wishing no harm and looking for the good. One hopes that it extends to everyone we encounter. No touching.
    In a more narrow sense I think that love is soft, gentle, comfortable and altruistic. I want to help make the lives of those I love happy and fulfilling. I want to be with them. I want to touch them, to physically connect, whether a hug, a hand on the shoulder or back--just a conneciton.
    When I am in love, I want passion and deep committment.
    One hopes that being in love includes loving..

  18. Diane Woodson profile image61
    Diane Woodsonposted 11 years ago

    We can be in love with a hairstyle we think is cool or a food we just adore,and think we cannot live without, keyword here is think; but I love you I think is all encompassing toward a person, the person with which we spend our whole life, everything from the likes,dislikes, knowing you will give everything to the person you said "I love you", to. I personally do not think it matters how often this is said between two people, when there is a real, deeply abiding commitment.
    There is a big difference, I am in love with you, means you like everything about a person, I love you means you will be there for them no matter what happens.

  19. arpitme profile image60
    arpitmeposted 11 years ago

    Latter one sounds to me more expressive and heartly

  20. tamarawilhite profile image86
    tamarawilhiteposted 7 years ago

    "In Love" is often a temporary hormonal rush and can fade. Think of it as the puppy love and quick rush that fades into, if you're lucky, deep "love".
    To say I love you and feel it much more deeply is likely to last.

 
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