Head over heels in love means completely and madly in love. Literally, head over heels means tumbling over, as if your feelings had turned you upside down. The usual form is fall head over heels in love with someone; sometimes in love is left out, and people even say it about a city: I fell head over heels for Lisbon. The expression is conversational: it sounds lively in Speaking, while in an essay deeply in love is enough.
When would you say head over heels?
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fall head over heels (in love) with + person; be head over heels (in love) with + person; fall head over heels for + person/place
- She's head over heels in love with a guy from her Spanish class.
- My parents met at a summer festival and fell head over heels in love.
- I fell head over heels for Lisbon on my first trip and went back the next year.
What changed
First versionHe fell up to his ears in love with a girl from his office.
RevisionHe fell head over heels in love with a girl from his office.
Up to his ears may seem a natural way to say “completely”, but English doesn't use it about falling in love. The idiom for that is head over heels. Only this part of the sentence was changed.
Be up to your ears does exist in English, but it's about being busy or having problems: I'm up to my ears in work means you have far too much work. For feelings, use head over heels: I'm head over heels in love.
Your turn
Two weeks after they met, Sam was ___ in love with Anna and talked about her all the time.
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head over heels — Sam talks about Anna all the time, so he is deeply in love: head over heels in love. Up to his ears may look like a way to say “completely”, but in English it's used about work and debts, not love.
Write about a couple from real life, a film or a book where someone fell madly in love. Say who fell for whom and where they met.
In my favourite film, a shy librarian falls head over heels in love with a street musician she meets at a train station.
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