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I would like to learn to say "I love you too" in the Hokkien dialect, as my boyfriend's from Taiwan, and I would like to surprise him. But I can't find the way to say it online, and I've heard him pronounce it something like, "Wo ai lu." I think the Mandarin way is to say, "Wo ai ni," and "Wo ye ai ni," but I'm not sure. Can anyone answer me? I would like the characters, but also the romanization. And for this, as I wasn't clear before, I actually mean for the Hokkien, as it's no surprise to him I know kind of how to say the Mandarin. I'd like the romanization so I can say it to him. But I would also like to be able to write it, since we may take classes together, and we've been known to write notes to each other.

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  • Mandarin is 我愛你 (Wǒ ài nǐ) and 我也愛你 (Wǒ yě ài nǐ.)
    – Ming
    Commented Mar 16, 2015 at 7:02
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    I was looking for the Hokkien, I was aware vaguely of the Mandarin. Thank you, for the answer, though.
    – Xian Lu
    Commented Mar 16, 2015 at 7:03

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There are three words corresponding to Mandarin "也" in Taiwanese Hokkien.

I believe that in colloquial Hokkien, 也 is used exclusively in co-ordinated constructions, of the form "也 X 也 Y", which isn't what you want here. It is 嘛 that you're looking for.

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    Then would it be, 我嘛愛你 (góa mā ài lì)?
    – Xian Lu
    Commented Mar 16, 2015 at 21:26
  • @XianLu yes you are right
    – Raynoceros
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 1:20
  • Thank you very much for this. I will study it well, and I hope to be able to say it right.
    – Xian Lu
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 1:28
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    For Taiwanese Hokkien (闽南语), you might want to watch their drama. There's alot of famous drama up there.
    – Raynoceros
    Commented Mar 17, 2015 at 2:00
  • @Raynoceros I didn't see this before, but I did watch a drama listed as Taiwanese, Fall in Love With Me (Ai Shang Liang Ge Wo, I believe is the original name), but it was in Mandarin, I'm pretty sure. They used 'wo ai ni' instead of 'goa ai li.' Was I missing something, or was that just not the one to watch for Hokkien dialect?
    – Xian Lu
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 10:30
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You'll find that the Taiwanese (Hokkien) dialect is very similar to mandarin, except that the intonation and pronunciation varies in a subtle way.

The writing should be exactly the same, unless you want to write it in a way that reflects the actually sounds (as they do sometimes).

我愛你 (góa ài lì)

Tip: I think góa is a little bit difficult to pronounce, so you might just try to say 'wa' instead.

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