I Love You in Morse Code: How to Write, Say and Send It

I love you in Morse code is .. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..-. Three words, eight letters, twelve dots and twelve dashes. It is the most searched phrase in Morse after SOS, and probably the most sent: on bracelets, in notes passed in class, in flashlight blinks between windows, and as tattoos. This guide gives you the exact code, takes it apart letter by letter, and shows how to send it, say it, and shorten it.

How to write “I love you” in Morse code

Morse has no symbol for a whole word. You spell each letter and separate letters with a short pause. In writing, that pause is a single space, and the longer pause between words is shown as a slash with spaces around it:

.. / .-.. — …- . / -.– — ..-

Read it as: I (two dots), a word gap, L O V E, a word gap, Y O U. If you copy it into a message, keep the spaces exactly as they are. Collapse them and “I love you” quietly becomes an unreadable string of signals.

Letter by letter

Two things make this phrase pleasant to send. The letter E is the shortest character in the whole code, a single dot, and it sits right in the middle of “love”. And the letter O, three dashes, appears twice, giving the phrase a slow, rolling middle that is easy to recognize once you have heard it a few times. The whole message is 93 time units long: about 7.4 seconds at a normal 15 words per minute, or about 22 seconds at a beginner’s 5 WPM.

How to say “I love you” in Morse code

Out loud, Morse is voiced as dit for a dot and dah for a dash, so “I love you” is:

dit dit · dit dah dit dit · dah dah dah · dit dit dit dah · dit · dah dit dah dah · dah dah dah · dit dit dah

Saying it this way is the fastest route to learning it by ear, because the rhythm matters more than the picture. You can hear the real tones on the love you in Morse code page, slow it down, and download a WAV to send as a voice note.

How to send it

By text

Copy .. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- into a message. It works in any app and survives screenshots. If the person does not know Morse, send them a link to the decoder and let them work it out, which is half the fun.

By light

With a flashlight or your phone’s torch, flash each dot for about a quarter of a second and each dash for three quarters of a second. Leave the light off for a quarter second between signals, three quarters between letters, and almost two seconds between the three words. At that pace the whole phrase takes around 20 seconds, which is long enough to feel like a real message when it comes from across a room or across a street. The Morse code with light guide has a lamp simulator so you can rehearse first.

By tapping

Knock the dots as quick taps and the dashes as slower, heavier knocks. Twelve of each, with a noticeable pause after I, after LOVE and at the end. On a table or a shared wall it is quiet enough to be private and clear enough to be understood. See Morse code tapping for the common conventions.

On a bracelet or as a tattoo

Jewelry uses small beads for dots and long beads for dashes, so “I love you” is 12 small beads, 12 long beads and spacers between the letters, about 13 cm of beads, which is a full bracelet. As a tattoo the three words are usually stacked, one per line, so the word gaps are obvious. Both uses have their own pages: Morse code jewelry and Morse code tattoo, each with a generator that draws the pattern for you.

Variations: I love you too, I love you more, ILY and friends

The same rules spell every variation. Add a word and you add a word gap and the new letters; shorten the phrase and you shorten the code.

“I love u” and “ILY” are worth a closer look. In Morse, U (..-) is a single character where “you” is three, so “I love u” saves two letters and a lot of time; it is how people abbreviate on a bracelet when space is tight. ILY is shorter still, three letters and nine signals, and fits on a ring. Each has its own page: I love you too, ILY, I miss you and love.

How radio operators say it

Amateur radio operators have their own shorthand, and the affectionate one is the number 88, ---.. ---.., which means “love and kisses”. It sits next to 73 (“best regards”) at the end of a contact. Sending 88 is a small, old-fashioned way to say the same thing in two characters. You will find both on our Morse code abbreviations page.

Tips for a message that actually gets read

• Exaggerate the gaps. Beginners rush. A slightly long pause between letters is harmless; a short one merges two letters into a different one.
• Keep the dash three times the dot. That ratio is what makes O sound different from three E’s.
• Slow is fine. Five words per minute is a perfectly good speed for a flashlight or a first attempt. Nobody is timing you.
• Check it before you commit. For anything permanent, decode the final design with the decoder before it goes on a bracelet, a card or skin.

Want to see the whole phrase taken apart with audio for every letter? Open the Morse code translator, type “I love you”, and press Listen.