How to Say I Love You In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo semuanya, ketemu lagi sama saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk to you about how to say "I Love You" in Indonesian. As always, we are going to be watching examples, mostly from movie scenes where the phrases are used and spoken by Indonesians.

If you have any questions regarding the Indonesian language, you can ask me directly. You can see how to do that on my About Me page. 

If you are a beginner in the Indonesian language, you can learn step by step with My Lesson Here.

So, let's jump right in.

Ways to Say I Love You

Usually, there are three ways that Indonesian people use when they are saying this kind of thing. 

The first sentence is,

Aku suka kamu.

You say this when you have a crush on someone and want to express it to them. If translated into English, it would be,

I have a crush on you.

The second sentence is when your love is getting bigger, and you love her or him more deeply, you can say this,

Aku cinta kamu.

If translated into English, it would be,

I love you.

The third sentence is when your love grows deeper. Your love in this state is more than your love in the previous state. You can say this sentence also to your beloved one, for example, your mother, your father or someone that you really care so much even though you're not in a relationship with them. You can say it to your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, and also your loved one.

The third sentence is,

Aku sayang kamu.

This is deeper than [aku cinta kamu]. You still translate this in English as,

I love you.

I don't know other translations than this because I don't know a word in English other than love that has a deeper meaning than love.

How to Pronounce

Here is how you pronounce [aku suka kamu] in bahasa Indonesia.


And this is how you pronounce [aku cinta kamu].


And this is how to pronounce [aku sayang kamu].


Next, let's watch examples from movies where the phrase is spoken by Indonesians.

Examples of the Phrases From Movies

The first clip we are about to watch is from Dilan 1990 (2018). In this clip, we will see how the phrase [aku sayang kamu] is used and spoken.

Let's watch the clip below.

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The conversation in this scene with English translation is as follows.

Dilan: Ini tuh daerah kekuasaannya kang Atot. Aku kenal da sama dia. Jadi kalo kamu mau teriak sekarang, boleh. (This is Atot territory. I know him. So, if you want to scream now, you can do it.)   

Milea: Ngga mau! (I don't want it!) 

Dilan: Atau, kalau kamu mau bilang aku sayang kamu juga boleh. (Or, if you want to say I love you, you can do it too.) 

Milea: Bilang ke siapa? (To whom?) 

Dilan: Ke aku. (To me.) 

Milea: Kamu duluan. (You do it first.) 

Dilan: Ke siapa? (To whom?) 

Milea: Ke aku lah! (To me!) 

Dilan: Bilang apa? (Say what?) 

Milea: Aku sayang kamu. (I love you.) 

Dilan: Yah! Diduluin! (Oh my! You preceded me!)

Let's learn the vocabulary used in this short clip.

Vocabulary From the Clip

[Tuh] is informal for [itu] = that. For more about this, you can read my article here: Itu, Tu, and Tuh In Indonesian.

The second clip is still from the same movie, Dilan 1990 (2018). In this clip, the phrase used is [aku suka Lia], and Lia is a person's name. 

Let's watch the clip below.

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The conversation in that scene with English translation is as follows.

Dilan: Kamu tahu ngga? (You know what?) 

Nandan: Apa? (What?) 

Dilan: Aku suka Lia. Tapi malu euy mau bilang. (I like Lia. But I don't have the courage to say it.) 

Nandan: Itu barusan bilang. (You have just said it.) 

Dilan: Bilang ke kamu, bukan ke Milea. (I've just said it to you, not to Milea.) 

Nandan: Tapi dia bisa denger, kan? (But she can hear you, right?) 

Dilan: Insya Allah. Lan. (I hope so. Lan.)

So, as you can see, Dilan says, "Aku suka Lia," instead of "Aku suka kamu," because in this scene, he doesn't say it directly to Lia. Instead, he says it in public so that everyone can hear.

If Dilan were to say directly to Lia, he would have said, "Aku suka kamu," instead of saying, "Aku suka Lia."

Vocabulary From the Clip

[Kamu] is informal for [Anda] = you.

[Tahu] can mean [tofu] and [know]. [Tahu], which means [know], is pronounced without pronouncing the letter [h], so it is pronounced [tau].

[Tapi] = but.

[Malu] = shy.

[Itu] = that.

[Barusan] = just now.

[Bilang] = say.

[Denger] is informal for [dengar] = listen.

     Read also: How to Say Have a Seat In Indonesian

That's all for now. If I find another example where the phrase I explained above is used and spoken, Insha Allah, I will update this article again. Thank you and I'll see you soon. Bye now.