What is Pyaar?
Pyaar is an Indian or Hindi term for “love”. Or some would say it refers to “loving someone from the heart”. This is why many use the term for relationships between a boy and a girl, or between a man and a woman. Though this particular term can also be used for sentences pointing to family or children, most prefer other terms for these purposes. Like when the supposed “love” is intended for a child, some prefer “mohabbat” instead of “pyaar”. The term “mohabbat” conveys more innocence that is why they prefer this over “pyaar” when describing love for children.

Like in the example phrase “to love” or “I love you”, it can be translated to “pyaar karnaa” or “mohabbat karnaa”, depending on usage and user preference. But besides mohabbat, there are other words that are synonymous with pyaar. These words include “prem” and “ishq”. So, in the same example, one may also encounter people using or saying “prem karnaa”, though this is not as common as “pyaar karnaa”. The word “prem” has Sanskrit origins and can mostly be found in books only, and not as a spoken word or language. Many also prefer to use “prem” instead of “pyaar” for love directed to God. As many say, the term “prem” conveys the purest form of love.

Others also consider the phrase usage of “pyaar karna” when expressing love for somebody as too vulgar, too direct, and very informal. For those who want a more delicate and indirect way of saying “I love you” to another person, some suggest the phrase “mujh ko tum se pyaar hia”, which literally means “from me to you, love is”. Using phrases like this would make the sentence more indirect but sort of less desperate. This is preferred mostly by conservatives and those that follow traditional ways of expressing love among others.

But since more young people today openly express their love for others, various variations of the term and/or phrase are used with “pyaar” as the word of choice for “love”.