I love you [just] the same [way] [as] you will love your child.

navi tasan

Key Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
United States
1) I love you the same as you will love your child.
2) I love you just the same as you will love your child.
3) I love you in the same way you will love your child.

Are these sentences correct and do they mean the same?
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I think they are grammatical, and I think they mean the same thing.

______________________________________
Always and forever will I love you -- or so it seems.
Good night, my darling, and sweet dreams.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Can you explain what you mean by "the same [way]" when referring to love?
 

navi tasan

Key Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
United States
Thank you both very much,

I think one loves the different people that one loves in different ways. One's love for one's child is not the same as one's love for one's sibling, for example. One feels responsible for one's child. One tends to worry more about one's child...

I think some people love their different children in different ways. That is what one mother told me. She said: I love both my children to the same extent, but not in the same way. (I didn't ask for an explanation).

And one might love the same person in different ways in different periods of their life. The way a mother loves her newborn baby is probably not the same as the way she a mother loves her forty-year-old child.
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
@navi tasan Try: "We tend to love the different people in our lives in different ways." (Notice what's missing from that sentence.)

When I said I think those sentences are grammatical that didn't mean I understood what you were saying.
 

navi tasan

Key Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
United States
Thank you very much, Tarheel.

The intended meaning was:
I love you in the same manner that you will love your child (when you have one).

What do they mean?!
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
It seems you're trying to say this:

I love you in the same way (that) you will love your child.

As you've suggested, the meaning here has to do with the manner of love. That's what the word 'way' brings.

There are lots of ways that you can use the same as. One of those is to express a similarity, equivalence or equality. Consider this example:

I love you the same as you love me.

Here, I'm not talking about the manner of love. I'm just saying that there is love on both sides. Here are more examples like that one:

I want you to be happy the same as you want me to be happy.
I enjoy being with you the same as I enjoy being with her.
I hate them the same as you do.
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thank you very much, Tarheel.

The intended meaning was:
I love you in the same manner that you will love your child (when you have one).

What do they mean?!
That's what I was thinking. That is, I was thinking you were talking to someone who hadn't given birth yet (a pregnant woman).

I guess what you're saying is does that sentence say what you mean for it to say. Yes, it's much better than the original. (I wouldn't advise you to say that. Why? A mother's love for her child is not the same as anything else. (My opinion.))
 

navi tasan

Key Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
United States
Thank you both very much.

Yes. I thought a woman's mother or a man's father was saying that to them.
I have motherly/fatherly love for you just as you will have for your child.
 

Barque

Banned
Joined
Nov 3, 2022
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
English
Home Country
India
Current Location
Singapore
I thought a woman's mother or a man's father was saying that to them.
Couldn't it also be a woman's father or a man's mother?

If it's a parent speaking to their son or daughter, try:
I love you, just as you will love your child. (This suggests the person being spoken to doesn't have a child yet.)
I love you, just as you love your child. (This means the person being spoken to has a child.)
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thank you both very much.

Yes. I thought a woman's mother or a man's father was saying that to them.
I have motherly/fatherly love for you just as you will have for your child.
OK. That makes it clearer.
 
Top