25 Valentine's Day Idioms for ESL Adults (Free Worksheet)

Your adult students can say I love you and we broke up. What they miss is how English speakers actually talk about love: they hit it off, he got cold feet, they called it quits. These idioms are everywhere in series, films and office gossip, and Valentine's Day gives you a reason to teach them in February.

Below are 25 Valentine's Day idioms about love and relationships, grouped by the stages of a love story, each with its meaning and an example. After the list you will find eight activities for B1-B2 classes, the mistakes to listen for and a free activity pack with the printables.

The activities at a glance

#	Activity	Level	Skill
1	Story in order	B1-B2	Reading
2	The literal trap	B1	Meaning
3	A story in messages	B1-B2	Vocabulary
4	What would you say?	B1-B2	Speaking
5	Fix the idiom	B1-B2	Accuracy
6	Advice column	B2	Writing
7	Draw the literal meaning	B1-B2	Speaking
8	Spot them on screen	B1-C1	Homework

Free · printable PDFValentine's Day Idioms Activity PackAll 25 idioms on one page, plus the printables for activities 1 to 6 below, numbered like this post: a story to put in order, a literal-meaning quiz, a chat to complete, 16 situation cards with a clickable board for online lessons, a fix-the-mistake page and an advice column. Answers are on every page.25 idioms6 activitiesB1 to B2A4 and LetterDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

If you want your class talking about the holiday itself rather than learning idioms, our 50 Valentine's Day conversation questions for A2 to C1 come with their own free card deck.

25 Valentine's Day idioms about love and relationships

We checked every idiom in the Cambridge and Merriam-Webster dictionaries and kept only the ones people say today. That is why lovebirds and my better half are not here (dictionaries mark them as humorous), and neither is the apple of my eye (old-fashioned, and mostly said about children).

Free printable · page 2All 25 idioms and their meanings on one page, in the same five groups. Students keep it to check their answers in every activity.Download the free PDF

It starts: idioms 1 to 5

The first five describe the very beginning, long before the first I love you. To hear them from real couples, Are You Two A Couple? (B1-B2) has a street interview where four couples tell how they first met.

Idiom	Meaning and example
1. love at first sight	Falling in love the moment you first see a person. My parents say it was love at first sight at a friend's wedding.
2. have a crush on	Have romantic feelings for a person, often in secret. Lucas has had a crush on his neighbor for months, but he's too shy to say hello.
3. hit it off	Like each other straight away. Ana and Marco hit it off at the party and talked until 2 a.m.
4. have chemistry	Feel a natural attraction or connection. They're both nice, but there's no chemistry between them.
5. play hard to get	Pretend you're not interested, so the other person tries harder. She likes him. She's just playing hard to get.

Falling in love: idioms 6 to 10

Fall for and crazy about take the person straight after them: she fell for him, he's crazy about her. For the feelings that come with it, like on cloud nine and over the moon, the Feelings Idioms worksheet (B2-C1) teaches 12 more.

Idiom	Meaning and example
6. fall for	Start to love a person. I didn't plan to fall for my best friend's brother.
7. head over heels (in love)	Completely in love. Tom is head over heels in love with his new girlfriend.
8. sweep a person off their feet	Make a person fall in love quickly, with charm and big gestures. He swept her off her feet with handwritten letters.
9. crazy about	Love or like a person very much. Eva is still crazy about her husband after 20 years.
10. wear your heart on your sleeve	Show your feelings openly. Daniel wears his heart on his sleeve, so everyone knew he was in love.

A couple: idioms 11 to 15

Love is in the air is the one students will hear every February, and it gives its name to the lesson Love Is In The Air (B1-B2): three love stories, some happy and some not, with the past simple and the present perfect.

Idiom	Meaning and example
11. love is in the air	People around you are feeling romantic. It's February 14, and love is in the air at the office.
12. a match made in heaven	Two people who are perfect together. They both love hiking and terrible jokes. It's a match made in heaven.
13. my other half	My partner, husband or wife. I'll ask my other half if we're free on Saturday.
14. a third wheel	The extra person who spends time with a couple. I went to the cinema with Mia and her boyfriend and felt like a third wheel.
15. puppy love	Romantic feelings between very young people, usually not serious. At 14, it was just puppy love, but I still remember her name.

The big question: idioms 16 to 18

These three come in a fixed order in real life, and students remember them better as a mini story: he popped the question, she got cold feet, they tied the knot anyway.

Idiom	Meaning and example
16. pop the question	Ask your partner to marry you. He popped the question on top of a mountain.
17. get cold feet	Suddenly feel too nervous to do what you planned. Two days before the wedding, the groom got cold feet.
18. tie the knot	Get married. Paula and Jorge are tying the knot in June.

When it ends: idioms 19 to 25

Breakup idioms are softer than the plain words, which is why English speakers use them: we grew apart blames nobody. Students who like telling stories will want Worst Dates Ever (B2-C1), where they rank dating disasters and tell their own.

Idiom	Meaning and example
19. on the rocks	Having serious problems and likely to end. Their marriage was on the rocks for a year before they split up.
20. grow apart	Slowly become less close. We didn't fight. We just grew apart.
21. fall out of love	Stop loving a person. She fell out of love with him after they moved abroad.
22. call it quits	Decide to end a relationship. After five years, they called it quits.
23. break a person's heart	Make a person very sad, usually by ending a relationship. He broke her heart when he left without a word.
24. an old flame	A person you had a romantic relationship with in the past. I ran into an old flame at the supermarket.
25. plenty more fish in the sea	Many other people you could date. Forget him. There are plenty more fish in the sea.

How to teach love idioms to adults

Five to eight at a time. Teach one stage per lesson, not all 25. The stages give students a story to hang the idioms on.
Use the literal picture. A heart on a sleeve or cold feet before a wedding is funny, and the funny image is what students remember. Activities 2 and 7 are built on it.
Teach the grammar around the idiom. Which word comes after (fall for a person, crazy about a person), and which part changes (they hit it off, he got cold feet). Most mistakes happen there, not in the meaning.
Keep it about invented people. Not every adult in your class is in love or wants to talk about it. Every story and situation in the free pack is about invented characters, so no student has to share their own love life.

8 activities for teaching Valentine's Day idioms

Activities 1 and 2 build meaning, 3 to 5 practice the exact form, and 6 to 8 get students using the idioms on their own. Every printable works for one student alone, so you can also send it as homework.

1of 8B1-B210 minReadingFree printable · page 3

Story in order

How it works

Students get ten mixed-up sentences of one love story, from a party to a wedding.
They number the sentences 1 to 10. The idioms are the clues: you can't pop the question before you hit it off.
Pairs compare their order and explain it: This one comes later, because they're already head over heels.

Why it works

To put the story in order, students have to understand every idiom in it, so they learn the meanings without a single definition from you. The story also shows the idioms in the order they happen in life.

Free printable · page 3The ten sentences of Sofia and Marco's story with boxes for the numbers. The answer key is upside down at the foot of the page.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

The next step after activity 1

The Valentine's Day Idioms worksheet (B1-B2) sorts 12 of these idioms into four relationship stages, then practices them in four short dialogues.

Valentine's Day Idioms B1B2ProWorksheetSee the Pro lesson →

2of 8B110 minMeaningFree printable · page 4

The literal trap

How it works

Students read a sentence with an idiom: Marco swept Sofia off her feet.
They choose the real meaning from three answers. Two answers are traps that take the words literally.
Pairs pick their favorite trap and draw it for the class.

One item, teacher's versionTrapHe cleaned the floor around her.Real meaningHe made her fall in love quickly.

Why it works

The traps show why an idiom can't be translated word by word, which is the first thing students need to accept. The wrong pictures are also what makes the right meaning stick.

Free printable · page 4Ten sentences, three meanings each, with the right answer in a different position every time. The answer key is upside down at the foot of the page.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

3of 8B1-B215 minVocabularyFree printable · page 5

A story in messages

How it works

Students read a chat between two friends: Lena tells Kasia about a breakup and an old flame who has just messaged her.
They fill eleven gaps from a box of twelve idioms and change the verb form where needed.
Pairs read the chat aloud with feeling, one student as Lena and one as Kasia.

Two gaps, teacher's versionGap 2We just grew apart.Gap 4We decided to call it quits.

Why it works

A chat is how adults really use these idioms, so students practice the exact form (we grew apart, I fell out of love with him) in a context they know from their own phones.

Free printable · page 5The chat with eleven gaps and a word box in mixed order, with one extra idiom. The answer key is upside down at the foot of the page.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

A full lesson for these idioms

Love Idioms (B1-B2) starts with emoji puzzles for the idioms, then students read two love stories and rewrite them with idioms like play hard to get and tie the knot.

Love IdiomsB1B2ProSee the Pro lesson →

4of 8B1-B215 minSpeakingFree printable · pages 6-7

What would you say?

How it works

Pairs get 16 situation cards: At a restaurant, Kai takes out a ring and kneels down next to the table.
One student reads a card aloud. The partner answers with the idiom in a full sentence: He's going to pop the question!
In online or one-to-one lessons, share the board page: the student picks a number, you click it, and the situation opens.

Why it works

Going from a situation to the idiom is the direction students need when they speak. A full sentence also makes them change the form: he's going to pop, she got cold feet.

Free printable · pages 6-7Sixteen situation cards to cut out, plus a numbered board for screen sharing. Each number opens its situation in the PDF and links back to the board.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

5of 8B1-B210 minAccuracyFree printable · page 8

Fix the idiom

How it works

Students read ten sentences, each with one mistake in the idiom.
They write the correct idiom on the line.
Pairs check with page 2 and say which mistake they would make themselves.

Why it works

The mistakes are the real ones your students make, many of them translated from their first language (see the table below). Seeing the wrong form in writing makes students notice it when they say it.

Free printable · page 8Ten sentences with a wrong word, a missing word or a word too many. The answer key is upside down at the foot of the page.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

6of 8B220 minWritingFree printable · page 9

Advice column

How it works

Students read two short letters to a magazine's advice column. Marta always feels like a third wheel; Ivan gets cold feet every time he looks at rings.
They choose one letter and write a reply of 60 to 90 words with at least three idioms.
Pairs swap replies and underline the idioms they find.

Why it works

The letters are full of idioms to understand, and the reply makes students produce them. It works as homework, and the model reply on the page shows what a good answer looks like.

Free printable · page 9Two letters, phrases for giving advice, lines for the reply and a model reply upside down at the foot of the page.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

7of 8B1-B210 minSpeakingNo printing

Draw the literal meaning

How it works

One student chooses an idiom from page 2 and draws its literal meaning on the board: a heart on a shirt sleeve, a pair of feet in ice.
The class guesses the idiom, then explains what it really means.
The student who guesses first draws next.

Why it works

It is a five-minute warm-up for the next lesson. Students revise the idioms without a worksheet, and the drawings make everyone laugh.

8of 8B1-C1HomeworkListeningNo printing

Spot them on screen

How it works

Students watch a romantic comedy, a trailer or one episode of a series they like.
They write down three love idioms they hear, with the full sentence.
In the next lesson, groups share their sentences and explain what was happening in the scene.

Why it works

It shows students that these idioms are real English, not textbook English, and the sentences come from shows they chose, so they remember them.

Valentine's Day Idioms Activity PackAll 25 idioms and everything for activities 1 to 6 in one free PDF, page by page in the order of this post.Download the free PDF

Mistakes your students will make

Teacher's reference

The idiom slips to listen for

Students say	Better
It was love from first sight.	It was love at first sight.
Spanish a primera vista and Ukrainian з першого погляду lead to from or on. English uses at.
He popped a question.	He popped the question.
There is only one question here, so it is always the. The same goes for tie the knot.
He broke her the heart.	He broke her heart.
Spanish and Portuguese say le rompió el corazón or partiu-lhe o coração. English uses a possessive: her heart.
I have a crush to her.	I have a crush on her.
The preposition is always on. For fall for and crazy about, teach the preposition with the idiom.
There are many fishes in the sea.	There are plenty more fish in the sea.
The idiom is fixed: plenty more, and fish without -es.
We hit off at the party.	We hit it off at the party.
The it is part of the idiom, and the past is also hit.

Valentine's Day lessons and worksheets

Level	Lesson	What students do
B1-B2	Valentine's Day Idioms · worksheet	Sort 12 idioms by relationship stage and use them in dialogues
B1-B2	Love Idioms	Decode emoji puzzles and rewrite two love stories with idioms
B1-B2	Are You Two A Couple?	Watch four couples tell how they first met
B1-B2	Love Is In The Air	Hear three love stories and compare the past simple and present perfect
B2-C1	Feelings Idioms · worksheet	Learn 12 idioms for strong feelings, from on cloud nine to on edge
B2-C1	Worst Dates Ever	Rank dating disasters and tell your own story