愛してる (aishiteru) means “I love you” when said to a person; it is a contraction of 愛している. 愛する can also describe love for family, animals, or things. Directed at a partner, 愛してる is often weightier than 好き or 大好き, though its force depends on context.
forms aishite iru / aishitemasu / 愛する / 愛
to love · to be in love with
Sentences
〜を愛してる · the particle that matters
plain。
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君
きみ ［0］
you
pronoun · warm and slightly literary; the usual you in songs
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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愛してる
あいしてる
love — ongoing
contracted 愛している · a verb, so what is loved takes を
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I love you.
愛している · the full form
plain。
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今
いま ［1］
now
noun used adverbially · 今でも is 'even now, still'
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でも
でも
even; still
particle · concessive — even at this point
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家族
かぞく ［1］
family
noun · one's own family, or the unit in general
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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愛している
あいしている
love — ongoing
ている form of 愛する · the written form, with the い kept
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I still love my family.
愛する ＋ 名詞 · in front of a noun
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愛する
あいする ［3］
beloved; whom one loves
dictionary form modifying a noun · standard in writing and song
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人
ひと ［0］
person
noun · the one being modified by 愛する
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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守りたい
まもりたい
want to protect
たい form of 守る · desire, and it is the speaker's own
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I want to protect the person I love.
愛してます · the polite contraction
polite。
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本当に
ほんとうに ［0］
really; truly
adverb · 本当 ＋ に, intensifying what follows
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愛してます
あいしてます
love — polite
contracted 愛しています · polite, with the い still dropped
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I love you — really.
愛 as a noun · far more common
plain。
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愛
あい ［1］
love
noun · the everyday form of this word, unlike the verb
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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込めて
こめて
putting in; with
て-form of 込める · 〜を込めて is a set frame, 'with ⋯ in it'
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作った
つくった
made
plain past of 作る · the verb the whole phrase attaches to
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I made it with love.
恋してる · the other love
plain。
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恋
こい ［1］
romantic love; being in love
noun · the falling-for kind, as opposed to 愛
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してる
してる
am doing — contracted
contracted している · makes 恋 into an ongoing state
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かも
かも
maybe
かもしれない, shortened · hedges the whole sentence
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I think I'm in love.
Forms
Noun ＋ を＋愛してる
を, not が. 愛する is a genuine verb and what you love is its object — the single grammatical fact that separates it from 好き and 大好き.
愛して＋いる
The full form, and the one to write. 愛してる is the same thing with the い dropped in speech; 愛してます is the polite contraction.
愛する＋Noun
愛する人 the person one loves, 愛する家族. The dictionary form in front of a noun — common in writing, song titles and speeches.
愛＋が / を / の
愛がある there is love, 愛を込めて with love. The noun turns up far more often in ordinary Japanese than the verb does.
Meaning
Start with the particle, because it is the part that is simply a rule. 愛する is a verb, so what is loved takes を: 君を愛してる. 好き and 大好き are adjectives and take が. Mixing them up is the most visible error on this word.
The register is the part that is not a rule. 愛してる is not 大好き with more feeling behind it — it is a different weight of statement, closer to English I am in love with you said formally and out loud. Plenty of long marriages never contain the sentence, and that is not read as coldness.
愛 is wider than romance. The noun covers a parent's love, love of country, love of one's work — 愛情, 愛国心, 母性愛. It carries a sense of commitment and care rather than of feeling, which is exactly why the verb sounds like a vow.
恋 is the other half English collapses. 恋 is being in love — the ache, the wanting, the instability. 愛 is what remains after that settles. 恋してる is a state you are caught in; 愛してる is something you undertake.
Inside the word
The old form holds 心, heart, inside a figure turning back to look — a person walking away who cannot stop glancing behind. It is a picture of reluctance to leave rather than of affection, and that reluctance is still in the modern word's sense of commitment.
愛 arrived largely through Buddhist and then Christian and European texts, and the verb 愛する was still being consciously used to translate European novels in the Meiji era. It never picked up the everyday footing English love has, which is why it can sound literary in a living room.
愛する takes the fall after す; the noun 愛 alone is ［1］. The contraction 愛してる is not in the accent dictionaries as its own entry, so no number is printed for it here rather than one being invented.
Watch out
君が愛してる does not mean you love them — it means you are the one doing the loving. 愛する is a verb, so the person loved takes を. This is the one error that changes who the sentence is about.
Translating I love you straight across gets you a grammatical sentence in the wrong register — earnest, weighty, and slightly staged. 大好き is what the moment usually calls for, and it is not a lesser thing to say.
The noun covers a parent's love, love of a country, love of a craft. 愛情 is affection in general and 愛用 means using something faithfully for years. Directed at a partner, the verb usually sounds romantic; 愛する also applies to family, animals, and things.
Also asked
I love you — literally, am loving, since it is the contracted 愛している. The translation is accurate and the register is not: it is far heavier and far rarer in Japanese than I love you is in English.
Rarely. It exists, it is understood, and it turns up constantly in songs and drama — but in ordinary life 大好き does the work, to partners and family alike. A marriage that never contains the sentence is not read as a cold one.
The same word. 愛している is the full form and what you write; 愛してる drops the い, which is what speech does to every ている — 食べてる, 見てる. Polite: 愛してます.
大好き for almost every real occasion. They are not two points on one scale — they are different registers, and they even take different particles: を for 愛してる, が for 大好き.
恋 is being in love — the wanting, the ache, the instability. 愛 is the settled, committed kind, and it stretches to family, country and craft. Roughly: 恋 happens to you, 愛 is something you do.
あいしてる. The dictionary form 愛する carries accent ［3］ and the noun 愛 is ［1］; the contraction has no entry of its own in the accent table, so this page prints no number for it rather than guessing one.
References
Digital Daijisen, 愛する — Defines love for people, animals, and things, not only romance.
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