How do you say I hate you in Italian?

How exactly do you say I hate you in Italian?

In this lesson, we will take a look at the different ways you can translate this sentence into Italian. Read on to learn them all!

Let’s get started! Iniziamo!

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How do you say I hate you in Italian?

Singular: Ti odio!

Ti odio is how you translate I hate you in Italian when you are addressing only one person.

This common sentence in Italian is made up of two elements.

Ti
Direct object pronoun for “you”

Odio
Present tense conjugation of the verb odiare, to hate

Ti odio, Alessandro! Non voglio parlarti mai più!
I hate you, Alessandro! I never want to speak to you again!

Ti odio per quello che hai fatto.
I hate you for what you’ve done.

Are you wondering why the direct object pronoun is placed before the verb? Learn how the direct object pronouns work in Italian.

Odio is the first person singular conjugation of odiare, to hate, in the present tense.

io	odio
tu	odi/odii
lui, lei	odia
noi	odiamo
voi	odiate
loro	odiano

For example, you could say…

Luca odia fare i compiti.
Luca hates to do his homework.

I gatti odiano l’acqua.
Cats hate water.

Now, what do you have to say to say I hate you in Italian to groups of people? You will need to conjugate the direct object pronoun in the second person plural. Let’s see what this form is in the next paragraph.

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Plural: Vi odio!

Vi odio! is how you say I hate you in Italian when you are addressing more than one person.

In Italian, unlike English, there are two kinds of “you”. There is a singular “you” and then there is a plural “you”. If you are addressing a group, you must conjugate any verb or pronoun accordingly.

The direct object pronoun for the plural form of the subject pronoun “you”, voi, is vi. Therefore, we will say vi odio. The verb doesn’t change, just like in English.

Vi odio quando fate così, ragazzi.
I hate you guys when you do that.

Now, how do you say I hate you in Italian when you have to be polite (as if that were possible!)? Read on to find out!

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Formal: La odio!

If you are just visiting Italy and often meet new people, unless you both agree to use the informal pronoun tu, you will have to stick to the polite pronoun Lei when talking to other adults and people you are not familiar with. With children, it’s customary to use tu regardless of familiarity.

This is the equivalent of she in English. Basically, when speaking formally, Italians address each other with the subject “she”, lei.

What’s the direct object pronoun for the subject pronoun lei? La.

(If you have trouble understanding the Italian direct object pronouns, read the ultimate guide to them!)

That said, how do you formally say I hate you in Italian?

However, I wouldn’t really use this polite form with anyone. It’s so unusual it almost sounds wrong to my ears, and I can’t think of any decent example sentences.

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Ti detesto!

Ti detesto, along with its plural and polite forms vi detesto and la detesto, is another way to translate I hate you in Italian. It’s interchangeable with ti odio, but it’s less common.

Detesto comes from the verb detestare, which means to destest or to despise. Here’s its conjugation table in the present tense.

io	detesto
tu	detesti
lui, lei	detesta
noi	detestiamo
voi	detestate
loro	detestano

For example, you could say…

Detesto i broccoli, hanno un cattivo sapore!
I hate broccoli, it tastes bad!

Laura detesta fare il bucato di sera.
Laura hates doing laundry at night.

Sara detesta lavarsi i denti.
Sara hates brushing her teeth.

And that’s the end of our lesson on how to say I hate you in Italian in all its forms!

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