Italian Phrase: Ho una cotta per te. (I have a crush on you.)

Each and every one of us has experienced a colossal crush at some point in our lives. Sometimes they are short-lived, other times those feelings may never really leave us despite the passing of the years.

Whether you are currently infatuated with someone, or just curious to expand your vocabulary, you may be interested to know how to say I have a crush on you in Italian (especially if your beloved happens to be Italian)!

There are three different ways you can translate this phrase, all of which include cotta, the word for crush or infatuation. It derives from cotto, the past participle of cuocere (to cook).

The first two expressions are fairly standard whereas the third has more of an informal ring to it.

Also note that the second and third phrases use the reflexive form of prendere (to get) and pigliare (to catch, grab) and for this reason, must conform to the gender of the speaker when conjugated.

There are of course many other ways of expressing the same sentiment. For example:

• essere innamorato/a cotto/a = to be head over heels in love
• essere innamorato/a pazzo/a or essere follemente innamorato/a = to be crazy in love
• prendersi una sbandata = to have a crush
• perdere la testa per qualcuno = to be crazy about someone (lit: to lose one’s head for someone)
• essere pazzo/a di qualcuno = to be crazy about someone

Heather Broster

Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.