Textbooks and dictionaries vs. real life: a matter of love

While textbooks and dictionaries certainly have their value, you can't always count on them to tell you how words are used in real life. One example that has been highlighted in our forum is the simple matter of telling someone, "I love you." The dictionaries may tell you that the verb of choice would be amar, so that "I love you" would be "te amo." But as some native speakers in the forum point out, that may come across like you're mimicking a soap opera. For them, the verb of choice is querer — a more common verb that can also be used for mundane activities like ordering a pizza. Learn more about "I love you" ...