Data on conceptions about BEING IN LOVE as well as answers on marrying somebody who has desirable characteristics withou loving him/her are analyzed. A survey on mate preferences that included an open sentence (Being in love means to me....) and a question about marrying somebody without loving him/her was administered to an intentional sample of 761 adolescents and young adults living in Buenos Aires city and its suburban area. Content analysis of free writ- ten expressions was carried out. We found that both males and females mainly consider that being in love is related to needs of sharing time together, thinking on the beloved most of the time and having deep feelings. High percentages of subjects think in marrying only wihen being in love, but males are more doubtful than females. Some differences between sex and age on conceptions were found. Data grouping supports Sternberg ́s (1989) three dimensions model : passion, intimacy and commitment.