ZERO TO I LOVE YOU IN 60 SECONDS

The French have a reputation for being great lovers. They're sensual and seductive, whispering sweet nothings in your ear with a sexy French accent. They can properly romance anyone, or so they say, though some are dubious.

If you have never had the, let’s call it, pleasure of dating a Frenchman, you may not know that they are also very quick draws when it comes to love. I’m not talking about in the bedroom, I mean that they waste no time declaring their love.

You’ll hear stories of French guys who ask after the first day if you’re “boyfriends,” copain in French. Talk about fast. The idea of “dating” doesn’t really resonate with this culture. You jump into the deep end right away.

The expats in Paris share a common sentiment about this phenomenon which we sum up in one simple phrase – “zero to I love you in 60 seconds”.

Here are a few anecdotes that we have experienced and collected from others when dating the French.

“I remember being on the phone with a French guy that I met in a bar. He loved Americans and was wearing a rabbit-fur coat. This should have been a warning sign. A few weeks later we had seen each other maybe five times. He called one night from Marseille. I couldn’t tell if my French was really that bad, but I am pretty sure he was just drunk and slurring his words. He was telling me about whatever he was doing down in Marseille. It was after midnight, and I was sleepy. I said I had to go. As I was about to hung up, I heard him stuttering. “Je, je…je t’aime.” He said. “OK,” I replied, and said bye. I think I only saw him once after that. Ever since, I refused to date anyone wearing rabbit.”

“I met this young Frenchman a few summers ago. We’d hung out maybe 4 times and always with a group of people. One night a group of us when clubbing. At the end of the night he was staying at my place because he lived too far away and the public transport wasn’t running at that hour. When we were lying in bed I felt him quivering. I asked if he was cold. He told me no but he’s so overcome with emotional and blurted out “I love you.” Luckily he followed it us with, “You must think I’m crazy”, I replied, “Yes” (with a light-hearted laugh) and that was the end of that.”

“The French are also very quick to fall out of love. I’d been dating this guy for about 2 months and he’d already told me that he loved me. It was a bit quick for my liking, especially since we didn’t share a common language so how can he really know if he even liked me. Anyway, a ski trip later and he realized that we didn’t communicate very effectively, his English being nonexistant and my French being, well, rusty at best. The relationships was over and I never heard from him again. I guess the love wasn’t that deep.”

If you have any stories of your own, please share them in the comments below. We’d love to hear them!