In remembrance of Valentine's Day
I was an exchange student in Italy several years ago. What I found weird is that in Italian there's two kind of love. The passionate way and more innocent way. "I love you" can be translated 2 different ways in Italian. There's the literal "ti amo" (ti=you, amo= I love) that no one really uses.. maybe real lovers as husband and wife etc. And then there's this phrase everyone uses "ti voglio bene" which tanslates I want you well ( I guess it can mean 2 things; I want you to be well or I want you in a good way. As of now I haven't really worked that out which one it is...). And this "ti voglio bene" phare is used when spoken to friends, boy/girlfriends, family/siblings.
I remember saying "Vi amo" (vi=plural you) to my host family and to my friends and they all corrected me that I should say "Vi voglio bene". Meh.
And all Italians out there maybe you can clarify what "ti voglio bene" really translates in to!?!