# Ana Behibek



## JoseLuis

Hello,

I want to tell my Lebanese girlfriend "I love you" (in Arabic). I was told to use "Ana Behibek" -- is this accurate? After reading the discussion below on the Arabic translation of "I love you" , I am utterly confused.

With Spanish, we have several levels of "love"....type of love you have for your sister, sports, and the passionate love you feel towards your significant other...does Arabic have something similar? And if so, what would be an appropriate phrase/sentence I could use to communicate my love to my girlfriend? I just want to make sure I am employing the correct phrase.

Thank you all,

Jose Luis


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## thelastchoice

Ana bhebbik أنا بحبِّك is a lebanese colloquial but in Standard Arabic it is أنا أُحبُّكِ;ANA UHIB'BUKI.


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## elroy

Also, you don't need the "ana," so you can just say

*bhibbek* [Lebanese]

Another common Arabic idiom that expresses passionate love is

*(ana) bmuut fiiki* [Lebanese]

_(double vowels are to be lengthened)_


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## Whodunit

Isn't عشق such a "level" of love? In Lebanese, after your posts, I'd write it "(ana) b'ashaq".

I don't want to confuse anyone, but what Elroy and Thelastchoice said are correct, as I asked same questions at the very beginning.

*' *is a special Arabic letter, something like a mixture of swallowing, choking, and trying to burp. Soundsa funny and is kinda hard.
*q* is a special letter, too, because it's not like the English or Spanish q. You pronounce it very deeply in the throat.


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## thelastchoice

There different levels of love and each one has its own name and this precise discription of each level of love implies the way Arab Lovers look at love. Also, this is a unique characteristic of Arabic which does not have any competitor in Synonyms.

Here is a list of Love levels:

المحبة ،،
 العلاقة ،،
 الهوى ،،
 الصبوة ،،
 الصبابة ،،
 الشغف ،، 
المقة ،،
 الوجد ،،
 الكلف ،،
 التتيم ،، 
العشق ،،
 الجوى ،،
 الدنف ،،
 الشجو ،،
 الشوق ،،
 الخلابة ،،
 البلابل ،،
 التباريح ،،
 السدم ،،
 الغمرات ،،
 الوهل ،،
 الشجن ،،
 اللاعج ،، 
الإكتئاب ،،
 الوصب ،،
 الحزن ،،
 الكمد ،،
 اللذع ،،
 الحرق ،،
 السهد ،،
 الأرق ،،
 اللهف ،،
 الحنين ،،
 الإستكانة ،،
 التبالة ،،
 اللوعة ،،
 الفتون ،،
 الجنون ،،
 اللمم ،،
 الخبل ،،
 الرسيس ،،
 الداء المخامر ،،
 الود ،،
 الخلم ،،
 الغرام ،،
 الهيام ،،
 التدلية ،،
 الوله ،،
 التعبد ،،؛
الخلة،،


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Isn't عشق such a "level" of love? In Lebanese, after your posts, I'd write it "(ana) b'ashaq".
> 
> I don't want to confuse anyone, but what Elroy and Thelastchoice said are correct, as I asked same questions at the very beginning.
> 
> *' *is a special Arabic letter, something like a mixture of swallowing, choking, and trying to burp. Soundsa funny and is kinda hard.
> *q* is a special letter, too, because it's not like the English or Spanish q. You pronounce it very deeply in the throat.


 
You _could_ say "ba'shaq," but it's transitive so you would need to follow it up with a direct object.

Nevertheless, this word is not very common in the spoken language.


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## elroy

thelastchoice said:
			
		

> There different levels of love and each one has its own name and this precise discription of each level of love implies the way Arab Lovers look at love. Also, this is a unique characteristic of Arabic which does not have any competitor in Synonyms.
> 
> Here is a list of Love levels:
> 
> المحبة ،،
> العلاقة ،،
> الهوى ،،
> الصبوة ،،
> الصبابة ،،
> الشغف ،،
> المقة ،،
> الوجد ،،
> الكلف ،،
> التتيم ،،
> العشق ،،
> الجوى ،،
> الدنف ،،
> الشجو ،،
> الشوق ،،
> الخلابة ،،
> البلابل ،،
> التباريح ،،
> السدم ،،
> الغمرات ،،
> الوهل ،،
> الشجن ،،
> اللاعج ،،
> الإكتئاب ،،
> الوصب ،،
> الحزن ،،
> الكمد ،،
> اللذع ،،
> الحرق ،،
> السهد ،،
> الأرق ،،
> اللهف ،،
> الحنين ،،
> الإستكانة ،،
> التبالة ،،
> اللوعة ،،
> الفتون ،،
> الجنون ،،
> اللمم ،،
> الخبل ،،
> الرسيس ،،
> الداء المخامر ،،
> الود ،،
> الخلم ،،
> الغرام ،،
> الهيام ،،
> التدلية ،،
> الوله ،،
> التعبد ،،؛
> الخلة،،


 
Ok, I don't know over half of these.

Arabic has millions of synonyms that are used only in poetry and very formal registers.


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> You _could_ say "ba'shaq," but it's transitive so you would need to follow it up with a direct object.
> 
> Nevertheless, this word is not very common in the spoken language.


 
Do you speak for the Palestinian Arabic or the Lebanese one? With direct object, do you mean "-k"? So would "ba'shaqak" work?


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Do you speak for the Palestinian Arabic or the Lebanese one? With direct object, do you mean "-k"? So would "ba'shaqak" work?


 
Palestinian: ba3sha'ak, ba3sha'ek

The Lebanese is probably very similar.


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Palestinian: ba3sha'ak, ba3sha'ek
> 
> The Lebanese is probably very similar.


 
I still have a question:

3 = 3ain [ع], right?
' means what else then? hamza?


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> I still have a question:
> 
> 3 = 3ain [ع], right?
> ' means what else then? hamza?


 
-Yes.

-It refers to the hamza sound, yes. In colloquial Palestinian Arabic, we tend to change our q's to hamzas.


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## chazchaz

hi can someone please confirm if ana ouhibok is another form of i love you in arabic, thankyou x.


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## cherine

Welcome to the forum 

Yes, it's the MSA form, (i.e. not used in spoken context, unless of course the one who says it is not a native speaker 

P.S. Please read the forum rules, specially about using proper language; which means you need to write using capital letters and punctuation. Thanks.


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## Whodunit

cherine said:
			
		

> Yes, it's the MSA form, (i.e. not used in spoken context, unless of course the one who says it is not a native speaker


 
"ana ouhibok" sounds like "(ana) u7ibuk." Isn't there missing something? Shouldn't it be either "u7ibak/u7ibik" or "u7ibuka/u7ibuki?"


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## cherine

Whodunit said:
			
		

> "ana ouhibok" sounds like "(ana) u7ibuk." Isn't there missing something? Shouldn't it be either "u7ibak/u7ibik" or "u7ibuka/u7ibuki?"


Ana ouhibok is just a different way of transliteration ana u7ibbuk(a/i) (which I highlighted in blue, in your quoted post), while the part in green is not correct, as far as I know.


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## Whodunit

cherine said:
			
		

> Ana ouhibok is just a different way of transliteration ana u7ibbuk(a/i) (which I highlighted in blue, in your quoted post), while the part in green is not correct, as far as I know.


 
Well, it might not be correct, but this is what I learned: The last vowel of a object/possessive pronoun and the vowel before (the one that belongs to the verb or noun) can be switched, while the latter is usually dropped then:

min faDlak instead of min faDlika
haadha baytik instead of haadha baytuki

I'm dead tired, so I can't think of more examples.


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