Will You Marry Me in 25 Languages

Asking "Will you marry me?" in your partner's first language, or in a language you both love, can make a proposal feel personal. This guide gives the question in 25 languages. Where a language has a gendered form or a formal and informal form, we say so. We add an English-friendly pronunciation hint only for the six languages where we are confident of one (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Dutch), and we left the hint off everywhere else, including languages where we are sure of the words but not of the sound. We also left out several languages entirely, because we could not give you a phrase and a hint we would stand behind. Please read the notes at the end before you rely on any of them.

How to read the list

Each line gives the language, the question as it is written, and, for languages that do not use the Latin alphabet, an approximate romanization so you can see the sounds. Capital letters in a pronunciation hint mark the stressed syllable. The hints are rough guides for English speakers, not exact sounds, and nothing replaces hearing a native speaker say it.

Western Europe

• Spanish: ¿Quieres casarte conmigo? (kee-EH-res kah-SAR-teh kohn-MEE-goh)
• French: Veux-tu m'épouser ? (vuh-too may-poo-ZAY)
• Italian: Vuoi sposarmi? (vwoy spoh-ZAR-mee)
• Portuguese (Brazilian): Quer casar comigo? (kehr kah-ZAR koh-MEE-goo)
• German: Willst du mich heiraten? (vilst doo mikh HY-rah-ten)
• Dutch: Wil je met me trouwen? (vil yuh met muh TROW-wen)
• Afrikaans: Sal jy met my trou?

Northern Europe

• Swedish: Vill du gifta dig med mig?
• Norwegian: Vil du gifte deg med meg?
• Danish: Vil du gifte dig med mig?
• Finnish: Menetkö kanssani naimisiin?

Central and Eastern Europe

• Polish: Czy wyjdziesz za mnie? (asking a woman). Czy ożenisz się ze mną? (asking a man).
• Czech: Vezmeš si mě?
• Romanian: Vrei să te căsătorești cu mine?
• Russian: Ты выйдешь за меня замуж? (asking a woman; romanized, Ty vyidesh' za menya zamuzh?). Ты женишься на мне? (asking a man; romanized, Ty zhenish'sya na mne?)
• Greek: Θα με παντρευτείς; (Tha me pantreftis?)
• Turkish: Benimle evlenir misin?

Asia

• Hindi: क्या तुम मुझसे शादी करोगी? (asking a woman; Kya tum mujhse shaadi karogi?). Use करोगे, karoge, when asking a man.
• Bengali: তুমি কি আমাকে বিয়ে করবে? (Tumi ki amake biye korbe?)
• Mandarin Chinese: 你愿意和我结婚吗？(Nǐ yuànyì hé wǒ jiéhūn ma?)
• Japanese: 結婚してください。(Kekkon shite kudasai.) This is closer to "Please marry me" than to a yes-or-no question, and it is a common way to ask.
• Korean: 나와 결혼해 줄래? (Nawa gyeolhonhae jullae?) This is the informal form, for a partner.
• Vietnamese: Em có đồng ý lấy anh không? (a man asking a woman; the words for "I" and "you" change with who is speaking and who is listening)
• Indonesian: Maukah kamu menikah denganku?
• Filipino (Tagalog): Pakakasalan mo ba ako?

Before you rely on any of these

Check with a native speaker. A phrase can be correct and still sound stiff, old-fashioned or too formal for the moment. If you know someone who speaks the language, ask them to say it aloud and record it so you can practice with the sound.

Pay attention to gender and formality. Several languages change the question depending on whether you are asking a man or a woman, or whether you are using a formal or a familiar way of speaking to the person. We have marked the cases we know about, but there may be regional differences we have not covered. Ask someone who knows the language and the person you are asking.

Choose the form that matches your relationship. The lists use forms that suit two people who are close. If you are proposing to someone you speak to formally in their language, ask a speaker which form to use.

Dialects and regions vary. Portuguese in Portugal differs from Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish in Spain differs from Spanish in Latin America. The phrases here are widely understood, but they may not be the exact words you would hear in every place.

Languages we left out. A number of languages are missing from this list on purpose, including Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, Swahili, Welsh and Cantonese. We could not give a phrase and a pronunciation we were sure of in a short guide, so we left them out rather than guess. If your partner speaks one of them, ask a native speaker for the right words.

How to use the phrase on the day

Practice it enough that you can say it without reading. A sign or a card with the question in the language can help if you lose the words, and it makes a nice keepsake. Our will you marry me sign maker prints the wording you type, up to 60 characters, in fonts that cover the Latin alphabet. Check how a phrase looks in the preview before you print, and write it by hand if a script does not display well.

You can say the question in the language and the rest of what you want to say in your own. The proposal speech generator drafts what to say before the question, and the proposal ideas generator suggests settings and plans that suit you. If you want to capture the moment afterward, the proposal video maker turns photos into a short story that ends on the question, and the engagement announcement generator helps with telling everyone.

If you are still choosing the music, read our guide to marriage proposal songs, and for the photos afterward, see engagement photo ideas and poses.