# Love-hate relationship



## sakvaka

*love-hate relationship* _n._ a relationship in which your feelings for sb/sth are a mixture of love and hatred (_OALD, 7th edition_)

How do you call it in your languages? Thanks!

*Finnish*: _viha-rakkaussuhde_ ("hate-love relationship")


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: relação/relacionamento de amor e ódio.


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## ThomasK

*Dutch* : liefde-haatrelatie.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Σχέση αγάπης-μίσους»
s'çesi a'ɣapis-'misus
lit. "relationship of love-hate" (both love and hate are in genitive)

[ç] is a voiceless palatal fricative
[ɣ] is a voiced velar fricative


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## ilocas2

We don't have a term for this in Czech as far as I know.
Only:
*smíšené pocity* - mixed feelings


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## Juicy72

In Italy we call it "amore-odio" or "odio-amore", usually with a very light difference between them, the first giving more emphasis to love and the second to hate. 
amore: love
odio: hate

what a nice question!


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## Orlin

ilocas2 said:


> We don't have a term for this in Czech as far as I know.
> Only:
> *smíšené pocity* - mixed feelings


 
Bulgarian has a similar expression: *смесени чувства* (smeseni chuvstva).


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## ThomasK

There is some difference, I'd say, between love-hate and mixed feelings (gemengde gevoelens): in one case they 'fluctuate', in the other both are there at the same time. But how would you translate it literally?


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## ilocas2

Orlin said:


> Bulgarian has a similar expression: *смесени чувства* (smeseni chuvstva).



In Czech "smíšené pocity" is used mostly for things, events, experiences etc., not for people.
Thus it was probably off-topic


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## Orlin

ThomasK said:


> There is some difference, I'd say, between love-hate and mixed feelings (gemengde gevoelens): in one case they 'fluctuate', in the other both are there at the same time. But how would you translate it literally?


 
Of course you can translate literally - e. g. in Bulgarian _отношения на любов и омраза_ (otnoshenia na lyubov i omraza), but this isn't idiomatic (or even not understandable) and if someone hears it, (s)he'll say that this is a bad translation from a foreign language. To be understandable, it should be probably translated in a more descriptive way.


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## ilocas2

ThomasK said:


> There is some difference, I'd say, between love-hate and mixed feelings (gemengde gevoelens): in one case they 'fluctuate', in the other both are there at the same time. But how would you translate it literally?



F.e. "vztah, ve kterém je láska i nenávist zároveň", (relationship, in which there are both love and hatred in the same time) but it's not idiomatic at all.

EDIT: better word order: "vztah, ve kterém je zároveň láska i nenávist"


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## Orlin

ilocas2 said:


> F.e. "vztah, ve kterém je láska i nenávist zároveň", (relationship, in which there are both love and hatred in the same time) but it's not idiomatic at all.


 
To make a sensible though not idiomatic translation in Bulgarian, one can say _"отношение/връзка, в което/която има едновременно любов и_ _омраза_" (otnoshenie/vrazka, v koeto/koyato ima ednovremenno lyubov i omraza) - correct but very wordy and clumsy.


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## bibax

> In Italy we call it "amore-odio" or "odio-amore", usually with a very light difference between them, the first giving more emphasis to love and the second to hate.


Not useful anymore in Italy. Berlusconi said that _«l'amore vince sempre sull'odio»_. And _«il duce sempre ha ragione»_.


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## trbl

German: _Hass-Liebe_


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## Lars H

Hej

In Swedish it is "*hatkärlek*".

The emphasis lies on the latter part of the word (it is actually love, but it's mixed with hate).

You cannot, as Italians appearantly do, switch the order to "kärlekshat". That word would mean "to really hate love", without any mixed feelings...


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## ThomasK

A German lady just told me that they just have _Liebe-Hass_, but no _relationship_, or something the like !


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## Rallino

In Turkish:

Aşk-nefret ilişkisi


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## ThomasK

Lars H said:


> In Swedish it is "*hatkärlek*".


Could you comment on the 'lek'-aspect, Lars ? Is that relation or something the like?


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## Outsider

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese: relação/relacionamento de amor e ódio.


_Relação de amor-ódio_ seems to be the most common form in Portugal.


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## Lars H

ThomasK said:


> Could you comment on the 'lek'-aspect, Lars ? Is that relation or something the like?



*Lek* means "play" or "game", as in "Barnen leker" (the kids are playing). "Detta är ingen lek, det är allvar" (this is no game, this is serious).

I wouldn't be surprised if you have this word in Dutch one way or another, it'a a common Germanic word: germ. *laika-, icel. leika,  goth. laikan,  mlty.
leken, mhty. leichen. 

Hence, *kärlek* means "the game you play with your loved one", where *kär*- is related to french "cher". It's a surprisingly romantic expression to be Swedish!

We do also say *väderlek*, meaning "the game the weather gods are playing (with us...)".


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## ThomasK

We do have *lijken* (to seem), but not _*l..k*_ for a game, I think... Would you have anything like that in German or English ? I don't see anything really... I found a reference to Lied/ lied, but that is a song, not a game. 

Great information, thanks !


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## Frank78

trbl said:


> German: _Hass-Liebe_



Isn't it one word: "Hassliebe"?


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## Lars H

ThomasK said:


> We do have *lijken* (to seem), but not _*l..k*_ for a game, I think... Would you have anything like that in German or English ? I don't see anything really... I found a reference to Lied/ lied, but that is a song, not a game.
> 
> Great information, thanks !



I found two German referencies;
1. *Laich*/*Leich *describing the act of fish laying their eggs. In Swedish the expression is "fisken leker". According to Duden, this German word was first spelled with an *e*, but later on changed to an *a* to avoid confusing it with *Leiche* (corpse), which is quite the opposite to *lek*.   
2. *Wetterleuchten*, actually the same as Scandinavian "väderlek", the latter part not describing a light/lamp as one could believe.

Perhaps this could help you to find some Dutch kins. I don't know of any contemporary English word from this root.

B t w perhaps the Danish word *Lego* is familiar? It means *I play* in a Danish/Latin mixup. I think the name is as brilliant as the bits and pieces.


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## ThomasK

Thanks, Lars: well, *de leg* might be the word, although I'd think of *de worp* - but it is still not common, I'd say. 'Weerlicht' is an interesting word, seems to be based on _*lijk*_, but I now found out that the _*lijk*_ you are referring to is in huwelijk (marriage), the game dance of lying together !!! (Oh, oh, I am learning a lot here)

So the lijk word is quite archaic in Dutch, but it has been great to find out !


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