# Bosnian (BCS): ljubiti vs. voljeti



## musicalchef

Selam/Zdravo,

Keeping with the romantic-themed threads we seem to have had lately , I was wondering about the difference between ljubiti and voljeti. Is one more intense than the other (I'm guessing ljubiti)? 

In "Moj dilbere," a song all the native speakers must be familiar with, the verbs are used side by side: "Što te volim, ah što te ljubim."

For those of you that also know Spanish, is this similar to the difference between "te quiero" and "te amo," which both mean "I love you" but can be used side by side, so are obviously a bit different? I asked a Spanish friend about the difference and she said that "te amo" was "más romántico."


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## nexy

Literally meaning of the words is:

Voljeti - to love
Ljubiti - to kiss

In Spanish, "te amo" is stronger and you usually say it to your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband, while "te quiero" is used more generally and you can say it to anyone. You never say "te amo" to ,for example, your sister, brother, frend, you can only say "te quiero".


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## SerinusCanaria3075

I've seen the verb "ljubiti" in John 11:5:
_Исус *љубљаше* Марту и сестру њену и Лазара_.
_Isus *ljubljaše* Martu i njezinu sestru i Lazara_.

In Spanish one would also use "amar" rather than "querer" in this particular case; otherwise it would sound as if Jesus wanted or desired them phisically. _Querer_ though is more common among relatives, like you said.

Zbogom!


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## iobyo

To elaborate a little further on what nexy said, if I'm not mistaken they can both mean _to love_.

While the differences are the same as in Spanish, _ljubiti_ in this sense is archaic and almost completely restricted to poetry. Actually, I think Marija Šerifović sang "još uvek te ljubim" in Molitva. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

However, the word for "love" in Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian is still _ljubav_.


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## musicalchef

Hvala Iobyo!

Anyone else have any thoughts on it?  (I know the difference between the Spanish ones, I just mentioned those for comparison's sake, but my question is about the Bosnian verbs)


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## sokol

See this thread here on Serbian - voljeti, you find confirmation there that nexy is right: basically - volim te = I love you, ljubim te = I kiss you.

(There are many times different facettes of use in Bosnia but my guess would be that in this case this is quite to the point, especially as Athaulf - with this post from the other thread - also knows Bosnian speech.)


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## musicalchef

Hmm, how did I miss that thread!?

Thanks for bringing the post to my attention; that definitely answers the question.


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## WannaBeMe

As far I know, older BCS-_ljubiti_-to love -->_ljubav_- love n.; _cjelivati_-to kiss; _voljeti_-to prefer, to like -->_volja_-fancy, will, liking.


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