دوستت دارم
doo-set daa-ram
Dooset daram means “I love you” in Persian.
Word for word it is stranger than it sounds: دوست (doost) means friend, ـت (-et) means you, and دارم (daram) means I have. So the phrase is literally “I hold you as a friend” — which is simply how Persian says I love you.
This is the standard “I love you” and it is not reserved for romance. Iranians say it to partners, parents, children and close friends. Add خیلی (kheyli, very) for خیلی دوستت دارم — “I love you very much”.
Warm and sincere, but safe in almost any close relationship. If you want something unmistakably romantic, عاشقتم (asheghetam) is the stronger choice.
Also written doostet daram, dostet daram, dostat daram, duset daram, dooset daaram. Persian has no single official romanisation, so spellings vary.
Dooset daram (دوستت دارم) means “I love you”. Literally it breaks down as “I have you as a friend”, but it is the ordinary way to say I love you in Persian.
Doo-set daa-ram. The first “oo” is long, as in “food”, and the “aa” in daram is long, closer to the a in “father”.
Persian expresses affection through دوست داشتن (doost dashtan), literally “to hold as a friend”. The construction covers everything from liking something to loving a person, and the strength comes from context rather than the words.
Dooset daram works for partners, family and friends. Asheghetam means “I am in love with you” and is romantic only — saying it to a friend or a parent would sound wrong.
منم دوستت دارم (manam dooset daram) — “I love you too”. منم (manam) means “me too”.
Dooset Daram is one word. Learn Farsi teaches over a thousand, with native audio and daily practice that fits in ten minutes.