Falling in Love the French Way

How do you say “to fall in love” in French? While the classic expression tomber amoureux perfectly captures romantic feelings, the French language offers a rich variety of charming, nuanced, and colorful alternatives that fit both romantic and non-romantic settings. Let’s explore some of these expressions.

As we mentioned, tomber amoureux (to fall in love) typically conveys strong feelings for a person or thing:

Une chanson qui parle des sentiments adolescents et de la solitude qu'on peut ressentir quand on voit des gens tomber amoureux et que nous, on a envie de ressentir de l'amour.

A song that talks about teenage feelings and about the loneliness that we can feel when we see people falling in love and that we want to feel love.

Captions 79-82, Français avec Nelly 12 Songs to Improve Your French - Part 1

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To evoke the sudden, overwhelming feeling of “falling madly in love," the French have a very colorful expression that literally means “to be struck by lightning": avoir un coup de foudre. Back in the 17th century, the expression described just that, an unpleasant electrifying experience! Over time though, it lost its sting and took on the more romantic meaning we know today:

J'ai un coup de foudre pour toi.

I'm madly in love with you.

Caption 77, Français avec Nelly How to flirt in French

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When combined with être (to be) instead of avoir (to have), as in ça a été le coup de foudre, the meaning changes slightly and is best rendered as “it was love at first sight." The focus is now on the event or the catalyst rather than the person experiencing these feelings. Just as in English, un coup de foudre (love at first sight) can happen not only with people but also with everyday things, such as delicious cherries:

Dès la première fois que j'ai goûté une cerise ça a été le coup de foudre.

From the first time I tasted a cherry, it was love at first sight.

Captions 70-71, Le saviez-vous? Comment dire qu'on aime?

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The expression un coup de cœur, literally “a blow/strike to the heart,” works in a similar grammatical way to un coup de foudre (love at first sight) with avoir (to have) or être (to be). Avoir un coup de cœur means to fall in love or to be smitten, emphasizing the initial feeling of attraction toward another person:

J'ai un coup de cœur pour toi.

I'm smitten with you.

Caption 74, Français avec Nelly How to flirt in French

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The expression can also be used in a non-romantic way, such as avoir un coup de cœur pour une peinture (to fall in love with a painting): 

Et j'ai vraiment eu un coup de cœur pour cette peinture.

And I really fell in love with this painting.

Caption 49, Le saviez-vous? Karine Rougier présente son art - Part 3

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Speaking of painting, a speaker in another video describes how she fell in love with a particular painting, how it became “her favorite” and how she developed a little “infatuation”:

C'est vraiment mon coup de cœur, hein. Ben y en a... beaucoup des jolis, mais celui-là vraiment, à chaque fois que je rentre dans ton atelier, j'ai un petit coup de cœur. 

It's really my favorite, you know. Well, there's... many nice ones, but that one, really, every time I enter your studio, I have a little infatuation. 

Captions 13-15, Marie et Sandra Atelier d'art - Part 8

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As you can see, un coup de cœur can translate in a variety of ways depending on whether it is used with avoir or être and on the nature of the feeling being conveyed. In this example, un coup de cœur is more of an "affinity” than “love”:

Avec François, on a repris la librairie y aura bientôt deux ans, une librairie pour laquelle on a eu un véritable coup de cœur.

With François, it's coming on two years ago that we took over the bookstore, a bookstore for which we had a veritable strike of the heart [affinity].

Captions 6-8, Gaëlle Librairie "Livres in Room"

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Moving on to a different charming expression, we have tomber sous le charme (to fall under the spell of something, or simply fall in love), which best describes an irresistible attraction:

Visiblement, ma mère...était tombée sous le charme du vendeur.

Obviously, my mother...had fallen under the spell of the salesman.

Captions 56-58, Mère & Fille Mère ou sœur

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Alternatively, you could say succomber au charme (to succumb to the charm):

Visiblement, ma mère...avait succombé au charme du vendeur.

Obviously, my mother...had succumbed to the charm of the salesman.

A less overt way of admitting one’s feeling of attraction is with the expression avoir un faible (to have a weakness, a soft spot, or a crush):

Olivier a toujours eu un petit faible pour Fabrice.

Olivier has always had a little weakness for Fabrice.

Caption 66, Le Jour où tout a basculé Ma collègue veut ma place - Part 1

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Or you may want to use the colloquial phrase craquer sur when “falling for” or “giving in to" the temptation of impulse buying, like this person at a Christmas market in Alsace:

Et ben on a craqué sur des choses un petit peu typiques, euh...

And, well, we fell for things that are a little bit typical, uh...

Caption 10, Alsace 20 Ouverture du marché de Noël de Colmar

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There you have it! We hope you enjoyed this foray into feelings, and that it will help you navigate the world of love.