When saying “I miss you” which of these is more frequently used? Do they have
different nuances?
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question
word-choice expressions word-usage
Which is more common for “I miss you”: 会いたい or 寂しい？
Depends on the situation.

寂しい is to openly admit that you are also lonely.

We don't say such a thing as often as American people say 'I miss you'.

That's embarrassing.
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会いたい in the literal sense means 'I want to meet', it is something you would
say to close friends or a partner. The meaning is closer to 'I miss you'. You
probably would not want to say this if you wanted to meet friends that you see
regularly to hang out together.

寂しい translates literally as 'lonely' although in this context can be
understand as'I feel lonely', you might use this to emphasises your feelings
more, if you are really missing someone close to you.

There is also 恋しい which is an adjective used for places or things but cannot
be used for people.

Japanese Ammo has a [helpful guide](http://www.japaneseammo.com/how-to-say-i-
miss-you-in-japanese/) on how to say 'I miss you'.

* * *

Here are some example sentences:

> 私は彼女に会いたい
>
> I want to meet her
>
> 私の[地元]{じもと}が恋しい
>
> _I miss my hometown_
>
> 寂しくなる
>
> _I will be lonely_
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寂しい just means lonely; you can miss some specific person without being lonely
in general.

Often, the meaning of "I miss you" is expressed with 会いたい. It appears in songs
quite a lot (君を会いたくて、会いたくて). But of course that is literally about wanting to
get together, not about the feeling of that person lacking, which are not
exactly the same.

The problem is that sometimes you want to meet someone without missing them
and that is also covered by 会いたい. Maybe you want to meet someone famous, whom
you've never met; in English you can't say that you miss that person.

There are more direct ways to say "I miss": the verbs 恋しがる (がる form of 恋しい),
and 懐かしむ.

> 君を恋しがっているんだよ。
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