How to tell if someone likes you

13 signs of attraction

We have all been there, wondering if he likes us or not? Is he just being nice, a friendly guy? Or is there a bigger feeling, hidden behind a veil of friendship? We want to be able to tell if someone likes us.

We count the plus and the minus and try to make the truth materialize from a bunch of different actions and behaviors.

You can figure him out

It would be nice to step inside his head, read a couple of his thought, see what’s really going on, and draw a conclusion once and for all.

Guess what? You can. Use these 13 signs, and you will be able to tell if he likes you or not.

The biggest signs that someone likes you

The first and foremost sign of attraction is the amount of attention he gives you. You will get special treatment, and he will be trying to serve you in different ways.

Another sign is the amount of eye contact between the two of you.

The easiest way to separate friendship from romantic attraction is to be on the lookout for touches.

Sharing inside jokes is another sign that someone likes you.

You will become better at spotting the truth

The better you become at reading people, the more you will know about what they think and feel.

We can’t hide our true feeling. They are painted all over our demeanor and our face. They seep out through our body language. You just need to know what to look for.

Before we jump in, I want to share a couple of other things to keep in mind while reading the list.

A clarification around “does he like you”

First of all, by the vague phrase; does he like you, we mean to find out if he is attracted to you and/or has romantic feelings for you. But the fact that he likes you and is friendly with you is already a good start.

He can become attracted to you

Because if we like someone, we can become attracted to them. Not all love affairs start with love at first sight. Some of the best and most healthy love affairs start as friendships.

And now, you might wonder exactly how to accomplice attraction from someone you like? I wrote an article about How to make someone fall in love with you. Be sure to check it out.

Make him like you by doing these 13 things to him

But the fact is, you don’t even have to check out that article because you can just use this list.

The same things that will tell you if he likes you in a romantic way will make him fall in love with you if you use them on him.

It’s reverse engineering at its finest.

Attraction breeds attraction

The things on this list are the things we do when we are attracted to someone.

The pure act of doing those things increase our attraction to the other person. When he does those things to you, he tries to make you like him. But he is also deepening his feelings for you just by doing those things.

Vulnerability and Attraction

Another factor to consider is that the more we like someone, the more protective of ourselves we become, and thus we can be drawn back when we are around someone we fancy.

Feelings make us vulnerable, and we don’t want anyone else to know that we have them.

Attraction can be scary

It’s easy to be tactile, talkative, and generally charming with someone we are not attracted to. Nothing is at stake. Thus it can be hard to tell the difference between indifference and interest, but his body language and his glances at you will give him away.

He might be shy

This form of body language can be harder to spot than someone actively showing his feelings. But if he indeed likes you, he will try to hide his feeling and, at the same time, inhale as much of you as he can do in secret.

If he is shy, it will be a bit more difficult to tell if he likes you or not. In this scenario, the small things will give him away.

Enlist your friend to find out if he likes you

A good way to find out the truth is to enlist one of your friends and let her check how he is behaving. She can check for the signs, and you can just relax and interact with the guy in question, as you would usually do.

If she thinks he doesn’t like you, there is no need to despair. Our status with someone right now is not the status we will have forever. We often overlook someone at the beginning, only to later realize what a great person they are.

Men crave attraction

I would say that men are especially susceptible to this change since they, generally speaking, view women as potential mates. While women are more selective when it comes to choosing a man.

Men are open for attraction and flirting, and attention. They crave it. They go out and conquer the world, but what they really want is being desirable by women.

How to get out of the friend zone

If you have a friend and want to take the relationship in a more romantic direction, check out How to get out of the friend zone with a guy.

Only one of the below signs will not give you a clear answer, but if he displays several of them, it’s a tell that he likes you.

1. He gives you attention

When we like someone, they have our attention, this is true between friends, and it’s true when we fancy someone.

This attention can come in many different forms. He looks at you. He asks you questions. Not only superficial questions but personal questions, like he is trying to figure out who you are.

He will also tell you personal things about himself. He wants you to get to know him.

Different men have different ways of giving attention

Attention comes in many forms.

The man in question listens attentively when you speak. He laughs at your jokes. He glances over towards you.

Another sure signs is that he uses your name often.

The way he gives you attention will differentiate between different men, but it will always be a form of intensified attention that’s easy to spot now when you know what to look for.

Observe how he interacts with you

Another way to tell if a man likes you or not is to be observant if he looks for your reaction directly after he finishes talking or when he just made a joke.

If he does, it means that your reaction is very important to him. Also, he just can’t help himself.

He tease you

Often when a man likes you, he will tease you. This is just another form of attention. He is trying to get a reaction. He wants your attention, and what better way to do it than teasing you?

2. He is serving you in different ways

A guy who likes you will be on a constant lookout for ways he can improve your life. He will do all sorts of favors for you, big and small. Cooking for you or fixing things for you.

It’s important that you allow him to do all those things. Thus showing him that he has a place in your life and that you are open to the gifts he has to give. He will want to prove that he can bring value to your life.

He will protect you

Helping out is a way for men to show that they care. It’s a very male love language. For example, give you their jacket. Walking closest to the traffic, to protect you. It’s a cliché for a reason. He wants you to be safe and to be happy.

3. You will get a special treatment

If you want to find out if he likes you or not, look at how he treats you in a group setting.

This is an especially powerful tool since you will be able to get a baseline for his behavior.

He will be conciuose of your whereabouts

Most likely, he will be more attentive to what you are doing. He will know where you are in the room. If someone is talking over you, he will notice and gently turn the conversation back to what you have to say.

He might give you very little attention

But people are also more protective of their feelings when attracted to someone. So it can also be the case that he ignores you but talks to everyone else.

It’s possible that this is his way of masking his true feelings.

Regardless of whether he gives you attention or tries to ignore you, any form of special treatment is a sign that you are significant. If he likes you, he will treat you differently in comparison to how he treats everyone else.

4. It’s all in the eyes

Prolonged eye contact is one of the most powerful signs of male attraction.

Men are only going to do this with a woman they are attracted to. So just test him by looking into his eyes, with a little smile, and see how long time until he looks away.

You might be the one who has to look away first.

A sure sign that someone is attracted to you is that it seems like his eyes gulp you down.

He keeps looking back at you

Another one of the most obvious ways is that he looks away, but his eyes, as they had a life on their own, quickly dart back for just one more glance. When you interact with each other, he keeps giving you a lot of small glances.

Have a friend check out for this behavior, and you will be able to tell if he likes you or not.

5. Inside jokes

Inside jokes and call-back humor are such great aspects of being human. We know how to entertain each other. We have inside jokes with our friends and other people we are close to.

It shows that we have a history, a shared past. It also shows that we get each other and know exactly what comment the other person would appreciate.

You get each other

Bringing up inside jokes in a group setting is a way to connect and show our special connection to the other people around us.

If your guy is applying this behavior, you are in a good place, that’s for sure.

He wants to show that the two of you have a bond together, a special bond that doesn’t include other people.

Treat him to an inside joke

You can use this yourself to increase attraction.

All you have to do is find a fun way to refer back to something that the two of you discussed before. Just like you would with a friend, keep it short and sweet; no need to exclude other people too much.

6. Trying to find out your relationship status

No further explanation is needed. Most people realize this is a clear giveaway and thus shy away from it. But he might try in an ever so subtle way, and that’s your cue to conclude that more than friendship is going on.

Another way how to tell if someone likes you is if they tell you their relationship status. If he in any way hints that he is single and available, he probably likes you.

7. Body language cues that expose attraction

If you want to know what he feels, you can just watch his body language. We can control what we say and what we do, but we can’t control all those small ways our body gives the truth away.

His smile will tell you the truth

A surefire sign of male attraction is that he smiles a lot toward you.

Not only smile, but his body language also opens up. Another thing to be on the lookout for is if he mirrors you. We automatically do this when we like the other person and when we are invested in the conversation.

Acting nervous around you

Another good tell is if he is fidgeting a lot or generally seems uncomfortable and, at the same time, keep looking back at you and extending the conversation.

People get nervous when they have a crush, everything is at stake.

They want to be close, and they want to find out more, but they also act nervous around the source of their infatuation.

8. Slow motion

When we are attracted to someone, things naturally slow down.

Movements and thoughts proceed in slow motion. Conversations last longer.

There is a syrupy quality to the interactions. The words come out slower, and it’s almost like the words lose their meaning, and the two of you are talking about something else.

Stay present in the interaction

You might get embarrassed and blush. The atmosphere gets electric and tense.

Fight back the impulse to move away. This sort of situation is what creates a wanna-rip-your-clothes-of- kind of attraction.

For the same reason, don’t shy away from things being a bit awkward and odd. Embrace the awkwardness and the “slow-motion feeling” between the two of you.

9. Touch

The way he touches you can be very subtle. But it’s a very good sign.

Generally speaking, a man doesn’t touch a woman his not interested in. And a nice sweet man rarely touches a woman at all.

Most men know that it’s uncomfortable and probably will not be welcomed.

If he does touch you, even if it’s ever so slightly, it’s a sign that he likes you. The best way to assert this is by analyzing how tactile a person he is, how he moves in a group, and how likely he is to touch other women.

Establish his baseline

To understand if he touches you in a “like you kind of way,” you have to establish his baseline and then check how much his behavior with you deviates from the baseline.

The way and the frequency of his touches will tell you if he likes you or just sees you as a very good friend. Most people don’t touch their friends a lot.

You can also easily use this strategy yourself. Just touch him ever so slightly.

10. Laughing at your jokes even when they are not funny

So sweet, right? He just can’t help himself. He really thinks you are that funny.

You can tell that he likes you because that joke was not even particularly funny. It might not have been a joke at all.

Laughing at someone’s jokes, or together with that person, really make the person feel comfortable.

So when he does this, he is signaling that you can be comfortable around him.

Give him the same treatment

He also wants your attention, and he also wants to show you that he approves of you. It’s a great move. You can use it yourself. We all like someone who thinks we are funny.

If he looks at you while laughing, at someone else’s joke, for example, it’s also a sign that he likes you.

When we laugh and look at someone simultaneously, we create a bond and draw that person closer to us.

11. His friends seem to be pushing the two of you together

This is a sure tell, because friends always help each other and want the best for each other. He might have told his friends that he likes you, or they have just picked it up on their own.

Friends are good at helping each other out

Regardless, friends want to help each other. So if his friends leave the two of you plenty of space and seem to be pushing him towards you, that’s a good sign that he does indeed like you.

By the way, your friends should help you out as well. You might not want to ask the guy to come and hang out, but your friend can, and she should.

12. Proximity

Proximity is such a good tell that someone likes you.

The first you will notice is that every time the two of you talk, he seems to be standing just an inch closer than what normally is comfortable.

When you say something important, he might move even closer. Don’t freak out. This just means he is comfortable being close to you. And that he wants to deepen the bond between you.

Is he always around?

Another way to check for proximity is that he always seems to be around.

You look around you when you are at a party, and there he is—smiling and hovering around you.

You go to the dance floor, and a bit later, he shows up. Or he might show up in places you go to often. When we like someone, we want to find out how they spend their time, so we can casually run into them.

Different forms of proximity

Another form of proximity is if he tries to keep the conversation going.

This sign that he indeed likes you is extra obvious if the conversation is about something small and basic that normally wouldn’t require many words. If he draws out small interactions, he is attracted to you.

Check out our article How to get someone to open up emotionally, to learn about how to become close with someone.

He keeps glancing at you

Another form of proximity is glances. He keeps giving you short, sweet seconds of eye contact. Glances are one of the most common signs of attraction and the one that is the hardest to restrain from.

He looks at you in secret

When we like someone, we just can’t help ourselves, we keep glancing over to check in on them.

Our eyes can’t get enough of them. You should have your friend look for this sign. If he likes you, he will look at you when he thinks no one notices.

13. Consistency

Ever wondered how to tell if the guy is a keeper or a hopeless Casanova?

Problem solved.

Just look at the consistency in his flirty behavior. If he is a nice, considerate guy who knows what he wants, his behavior around you will be consistent.

He will focus on you

He will always show a couple of the signs above in every single interaction. And he won’t be on the lookout for other women.

What you don’t want him to do is display a push-and-pull behavior. If he behaves flirty one day and ignores you the next, it means that he has low self-esteem. He wants your attention, sometimes.

Don’t fall for an insecure asshole

Looking out for consistency is a neat little trick that will make you separate attention-seekers from the real deal.

You might think, wait a moment, I myself am guilty of going hot and cold. Sometimes I’m confident, sometimes I’m insecure. Well, if this is the case, then it’s time to change and become consistent instead of a roller coaster.

Don’t go hot and cold

When you flirt with someone, going hot and cold will create attraction, but only if they have low self-esteem.

For someone with good self-esteem, that kind of behavior will be a turn-off.

Conclusion

It’s not rocket science. If you suspect he likes you, he probably does. Men are not good at hiding their feelings.

Trust your gut instinct. Use these 13 signs to be able to tell, once and for all, if someone likes you.

If you do conclude that he is attracted to you. No need to rush. Most men, although not all, enjoy the hunting part of the process.

Let him work for you

He wants to prove himself to you, and he gets a lot of enjoyment from trying to win you over. If you want his attraction for you to deepen, draw out the process. Have a little fun with it. Make him work his way into your heart.

Some men are shy, much more so than you would ever imagine, so we created a guide about when a woman should make the first move.

We got you covered.

Go get them, tiger.