Hey Lizzy, 愛 just means love, and can be a verb or noun 戀愛 is romantic love between lovers/those in a romantic relationship, and is a noun. The phrase 談戀愛 means to be in a romantic relationship. 我愛妳 - I love you 我愛我的爸爸媽媽 - I love my parents 愛是永恆 Love is eternal (the name of a famous Cantonese song) 他們兩人在談戀愛 - They are dating/in a relationship 小王與小明在戀愛中 - They are together 無論在戀愛或戰爭中，為了達到目標，人都會不擇手段的 We will be unscrupulous in our methods so that we get what we want, regardless of that being in a romantic relationship or in war. Hope that helps. Laurence

愛 is the general term "love". English does not differentiate the kinds of love but can be determined from context. However, in Chinese, there is a greater degree of resolving by adding prefix or suffix characters or even using different characters to describe the shade of love. 恋 = sexual/romance. so 恋愛 = sexual/romantic love. 友愛 = fraternity love, 博愛 = universal love, 喜愛 = fawning, playing favoritism. Hope this helps. BTW, 惜 = love, like the love you have for your pets, or parental love to a small child. 怜 = sympathetic love. 惋惜 = regretable love,

they are different. like 爱(i love my family.)you can love your friends ,your boyfriend or a girlfriend. like 恋爱（they have been dating for four years or they been in love for four years）you can failing your love. i am so sorry my English is bad.

恋爱 = having a relationship, be in a relationship, going out for a date sort of stuff 爱 = love (n.) / to love (v.)

it varies.