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How to Say ‘It was love at first sight.’ in Japanese

一目惚れしちゃった。

hitome bore shi chatsu ta

[hee-TOH-meh HOH-reh shee CHAHT tah]

💬 Usage Tip: しちゃった is the casual, slurred form of してしまった. It adds a sense of "oops, it just happened", which suits this playful line.

Phrase Breakdown

一目惚れ

hitome bore

love at first sight

一目惚れ (hitomebore) combines 一目 (hitome), 'one glance', and 惚れ (bore), 'falling for someone'. Say it as one word: 'hi-to-me-bo-re'.

Example

一目惚れを信じる。

I believe in love at first sight.

Words in this phrase

一目

hitome

[hee-TOH-meh]

one glance; at first sight

Literally 'one eye'; a single look.

Example

一目で分かった。

I knew at a glance.

惚れ

bore

[HOH-reh]

falling in love

Noun from 惚れる 'to fall for'; 一目惚れ means love at first sight.

Example

彼に惚れた。

I fell for him.

しちゃった。

shi chatsu ta

I ended up doing (it)

しちゃった (shichatta) is the casual form of してしまった, 'ended up doing'. Make a small pause on the double 't': 'shi-chat-ta'.

Example

寝坊しちゃった。

I overslept.

Words in this phrase

し

shi

[shee]

do (stem)

The stem of する, used to turn nouns like 確認 into verbs such as 'to check.'

Example

確認しお願いします。

Please check it.

ちゃっ

chatsu

[CHAHT]

ended up (doing)

Casual contraction of てしまう, showing something happened unintentionally or completely.

Example

全部食べちゃった。

I ended up eating it all.

た

[tah]

past tense ending

This ending completes the polite past tense form.

Example

空席がございました。

There were vacant seats.

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