About the love language test and how it works

Where the idea comes from

The five love languages come from the book The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman (1992). He proposed that people tend to feel cared for in five main ways: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch. We use "love languages" only as the name of that idea. This site has no link to Gary Chapman, his publisher or any other quiz.

How the test works

The test has 30 questions. Each shows two short statements, and you pick the one that feels better. Every statement belongs to one love language. Picking it gives that language one point.

• There are five languages, so there are ten possible pairs of languages. Each pair is asked three times.
• Each language therefore appears in 12 questions and can score from 0 to 12.
• The five scores always add up to 30.
• Options switch sides from question to question, so the first option is not always the same kind of statement.

The result ranks the five. If two languages tie for first, we say so. If the second is within one point of the first, we mention it. There is no weighting, no hidden formula and no machine learning. It is counting.

Why forced choice

If you rate each statement alone, most people say they like all of them, and the result is flat. Asking you to choose forces a trade-off, which is closer to real life. The cost is that the test shows relative preference, not how much you value each language in total.

How the questions were written

All 30 questions and all five explanations were written for this site. We did not copy wording from the book or from other quizzes. The statements describe small, everyday moments, so that an answer says something about your day-to-day preferences.

What the test can and cannot tell you

• It can show which kinds of care you notice most easily today, and give you words to describe it.
• It can help two people start an honest talk about what they need.
• It cannot tell you whether your relationship is healthy.
• It cannot predict whether you and a partner will be happy together. Research on this is mixed at best, and we do not claim otherwise.
• It is not therapy, a diagnosis or professional advice.

The theory comes from a counselor's experience, not from controlled studies. Later studies of couples have not shown that matching love languages leads to higher satisfaction. People often score high in several languages, and their results can change over time. Use the quiz for reflection, and take it lightly.

The partner link

When you press share, the link holds your five scores, for example #p=7-9-5-6-3. The part after the # sign is read only by your partner's browser and is never sent to our server. We cannot see it.

Who makes this

Love Language Test is built and run by 1000 Ventures, a small company that makes free browser tools. There is no named author or reviewer on this site. No licensed therapist has reviewed the content. If that changes, we will say so here.

How this is funded

The site is free and currently shows no ads. If we add ads in future, they will not change your result, and the privacy page will explain what changes.

Corrections and contact

Found a mistake or a bug? Write to michael@1000ventures.io or see the contact page. Ready to try it? Take the love language test.