Hi, I've been chatting with this girl for 5 months already. We both live in two different continents and have a 10 year age gap, me being older. She was upfront about having a gf of two years and even if they both live in the same country, since they live far away from each other, they only see eachother once a month. I like her a lot and I know she does like me too. She keeps telling me Te Quiero Mucho ... everytime. I would like to know whether this phrase if thrown around freely in any Spanish speaking country. I just have a hard time understanding whether if what we have is more than a friendship or more than that. We are on eachother's facebook.
Is not that uncommon to say that among close friends, and women specially feel very comfortable throwing "te quieros"s around.
The Spanish idiomatic "Te quiero", literally "I want you" is actually a very interesting (and honest!) way of saying "I love you". Adding "mucho" simply means "I love you very much", of course! No, it is NOT thrown around all that casually, it really does refer to a either a romantic or familial attachment.
While I respect your position I stand by mine. Maybe people in my country are more comfortable displaying affection than most, but from my experience Te quiero is a fairly common thing to say between close friends. Now if she were to say "te amo" that would be another story. Te quiero is not so clear cut. Whether she means that romantically or as a way of telling you how much she values your friendship that's something you will have to judge based on the context. Or maybe just ask her.
Well it seems there are contradictory opinions out there... What does te quiero mucho mean in English Also please keep in mind that with texting people use TQM quite often... What does your feeling say how it is meant ?
I'm not one for rigid definitions, especially when it comes to words and phrases, where context is just as important as meaning. Yes indeed, "te amo" is much stronger!
Te quiero is commonly thrown out there between friends, family, and people you are close with. Also, "te quiero" is used by couples who think it's too soon to say "te amo." It does have meaning, but it's not as strong as "te amo."
This is what I understand from my Puerto Rican Spanish teacher. "te quiero" is affectionate, but not quite as serious about commitment.
I think adding mucho takes away from the seriousness of the statement, much like adding beaucoup to je t'aime in French makes it a lot less serious " I love you". I'm pretty sure the simpler the I want, or I love is in Spanish, the more serious it is. Context obviously counts, but you asked for native spanish speakers, so why did I even bother to answer.
Well, while it's true "te quiero" is lightly used among friends, specially girls and close ones, it's also true that "te amo" is such a strong phrase, at least where I am from, much stronger than its equivalent in english (I love you) I would say. And the thing is there is no real middle ground between "te quiero" and "te amo", maybe "te quiero mucho" but then it depends on the context in which it's used and the situation. What I'm trying to say is that "te quiero mucho" could very well stand for something more meaningful than a friendship, for example, when I started dating my ex I would say to him "te quiero", later on I started to say "te quiero mucho" and it was only after like 5 months since we started going out officially that I started saying "te amo", and until that time my "te quiero mucho's" meant pretty much I love you, but I couldn't manage to actually say it. That's what I think.
The thing with the 'Te quiero' is that it's essentially a midpoint between the 'I love you' and the mere friendliness. You see, as explained above, 'Te quiero' doesnt necessarily mean love in the sense of romance. It can also be love among friends or relatives, and doesn't at all have the same connotation as 'te amo', "I love you". From my own experience, it's far, far easier to say 'te quiero' to a person than 'te amo'. It's not as serious, nor as extreme. And I would disagree with Rawrzilla. The 'te quiero' can be thrown about fairly lightly, at least in my country. Of course, it all depends on the emphasis given and the terms of that 'te quiero'. Also take into account most latin countries are quite open with these things, far more than other cultures. We in general are more passionate with how we express feelings, we're touchy and perhaps a bit too sweet for our own good.
Thank you for all the replies. I guess I will never know. And I can't ask her what her Te Quiero Mucho really means since she's in a rel with someone. The last she told me was "de verdad que te quiero mucho Margot" so like or love, atleast we have a good friendship.
From the all-important context that you provided above, it seems to me that what you quoted is a quite bit stronger in Spanish than the literal translation in English: "It's really true that I want you very much. Margot", which translated more accurately would be "It's really true that I like you very much...". In Spanish, as Diego said above, it is what can be more closely called the precursor to "I love you". Interestingly, there is no proper translation for "like" in other languages; it is actually quite a profound English word if you think about it...