“I like you” in Chinese: how to say it and how to write it
I like you
“I like you” in Chinese is 我喜欢你, wǒ xǐhuan nǐ — roughly “waw shee-hwan nee”. The word order is the same as in English: I — like — you. And this, not “I love you”, is how people in China most often confess their feelings.
How to pronounce 我喜欢你
wǒ and xǐ are two third tones in a row, so the first one rises: it sounds like wó xǐ. The second syllable of 喜欢 is light: huan is short and has no tone of its own. nǐ at the end is third tone again, low. The letter x is neither “ks” nor “z”: it sits between English “s” and “sh” — say “she” with the tip of your tongue resting behind your lower teeth. All the other syllables are in the pinyin chart.
How to write 我喜欢你
- 我wǒI, me
- 喜欢xǐhuanto like, to be fond of
- 你nǐyou
Four characters, three words. 喜 means “joy” — doubled as 囍, “double happiness”, it decorates Chinese weddings. 欢 means “merry, glad”. Together they make the verb “to like”. Pronouns never change: 我 is both “I” and “me”, so only the word order decides who likes whom — 你喜欢我 is “you like me”. You can practice the strokes in the writing worksheets.
喜欢 or 爱: “I like you” or “I love you”
- 我喜欢你wǒxǐhuannǐI like you
- 我爱你wǒàinǐI love you
- 我对你有好感wǒduìnǐyǒuhǎogǎnI have a soft spot for you
爱 is a heavy word. It is said out loud much less than English “love”: in many families it is hardly ever spoken, and in a couple it means a serious relationship. So a first confession is almost always 我喜欢你 — and it weighs more than the English “I like you”. Saying it to someone means “I want to be with you”, not “you seem nice”. 我爱你 has its own page: “I love you” in Chinese.
我对你有好感 is the careful version: “I have warm feelings toward you”. 好感 is literally “good feeling”; the phrase sounds restrained and a little bookish, more likely written in a message than said face to face.
喜欢 also has an everyday life: it is the same word for food, music and hobbies. So “I like” anything in Chinese is 喜欢 too:
- 我喜欢看书。wǒxǐhuankànshūI like reading
- 我喜欢红色。wǒxǐhuanhóngsèI like the color red
How to answer “I like you”
- 我也喜欢你wǒyěxǐhuannǐI like you too
always goes before the verb, never at the end the way English “too” does: literally “I also like you”. If the feeling isn’t mutual, people answer gently — for example by offering to stay friends; the word for that is on the page “Friend” in Chinese.
In texts people also confess with the number 520: “five-two-zero” is wǔ èr líng in Chinese and sounds a bit like wǒ ài nǐ. That is why May 20 is an unofficial Valentine’s Day in China.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “I like you” in Chinese?
“I like you” in Chinese is 我喜欢你, in pinyin wǒ xǐhuan nǐ.
How do you pronounce 我喜欢你?
我喜欢你 is read wǒ xǐhuan nǐ. The marks over the vowels are the tones: each syllable has its own melody, so listen to the recording on this page and repeat it.
How do you write “I like you” in Chinese characters?
我喜欢你 is 4 characters. What each one means and how the phrase is put together is explained on this page.
What does 我喜欢你 mean?
我喜欢你 (wǒ xǐhuan nǐ) means “I like you”.
Say it with the right tones
The first lesson is free: you listen to a recording, repeat it and see right away whether you hit the tones.
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