If you recently met a guy and you don’t know if he likes you, you probably want him to get jealous and show you that he’s got romantic feelings for you. You want the reassurance that you’re the center of his attention and that he likes you more than his other female friends.
If reassurance is what you’re after, you need to hold your horses. The truth about jealousy is that it doesn’t always go hand in hand with care, love, and romantic interest.
Sometimes jealousy is just a sign of low self-esteem and immaturity as it shows that a person lacks control not only of his emotions but also of life and people around him.
It shows that he can’t control his urges, desires, and emotional/sexual needs—and that he doesn’t care how he gets what he wants as long as he gets it.
This means that jealousy in a relationship can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can be a sign that a guy is jealous and likes you, but on the other, it can prove that he lacks a healthy balance and control in life.
So before you think that a jealous guy automatically likes you, think about the extreme cases where boyfriends, ex-boyfriend, fiancés, or husbands batter their women out of jealousy for talking to other men.
When you understand this, you’ll realize that jealousy may not always be a healthy measure for love and romantic interest. It could just mean that a guy wants his prize without paying the price.
So if you’re still interested to learn about signs that a guy is jealous and likes you, this article will provide you with the information you’re looking for.
Just keep in mind that jealousy isn’t an indication of how much a guy wants you, but rather a combination of poor self-esteem, poor self-control, and of how much he wants that which he can’t have.
7 obvious signs a guy is jealous and likes you
Considering that jealousy is a negative, often progressive emotion that gets worse over time, jealousy can do a lot of harm to someone who hasn’t learned to control it.
It can completely consume a person with unhealthy cravings and cause him to project his fears, worries, and anxiety onto his partner.
Jealousy in a relationship may look cute and harmless when a relationship is new and exciting, but, as the relationship progresses, it gets tiring very quickly as it causes arguments and disagreements bigger than most couples can handle.
This is why jealousy issues oftentimes make couples lose respect for each other and cause them to break up when too much negativity has built up.
Now that you’ve learned about the dangers of getting involved with a jealous person, here are 7 signs a guy is jealous and likes you. We’ll start with the most extreme signs and later, move to more subtle signs.
1)He gets angry, cold, and mean when you talk to other men
The first sign that a guy is jealous and likes you is a very obvious sign as insecure men tend to get angry and shut down when they feel rejected, unwanted, or if they can’t get what they want.
They do this to make the person they’re interested in chase them and reassure them that they’re worthy of love and recognition.
So if you notice a guy stonewalling you or getting highly emotional when you talk to him, meet him, or have sex with someone other than him, keep in mind that the guy is jealous and likes you.
He wants to be the main guy you give attention to and is prepared to throw tantrums when you don’t make him a priority.
2)He refuses to talk to you/help you
If a guy refuses to talk to you and help you—and says that the person you’ve been talking to/relying on recently should help you instead, you have an obvious sign that the guy is jealous.
Not only is he jealous, but he’s also using devious guilt-tripping tactics to get an apology out of you and force you to pay more attention to him.
Little does a jealous. ignoring, manipulative guy know that his jealous behavior isn’t attractive, nor making you fall in love with him. On the contrary, it’s smothering you and pushing you away.
3)He wants to make you jealous
Jealous men hate the way they feel, so they oftentimes take revenge and try to make the person they’re with/want to be with feel jealous/anxious.
Such guys are emotionally underdeveloped and don’t understand that their jealousy tricks don’t make women want them more. Their tricks usually just hurt women because those women aren’t romantically or sexually interested in them.
For girls to get jealous, girls have to actually feel attracted to guys or at least like them. They have to have some respect for them and have no better dating options
So even though jealousy is an emotion that everyone feels from time to time, it’s not something desperate guys should use to their advantage. If they do, they reveal their cunning nature and lose even more credibility.
4)He’s obsessed with you
One of the best signs that a guy is jealous and likes you is if he’s so fixated on you that he wants to know everything about you.
An obsessive guy would:
- stalk you in person and on social media
- talk to your friends about you (try to learn more about you)
- go to places you usually go to just to see you
- call you even if you’re busy
- flood you with texts
- show up at your place
- try to buy your love with gifts
- say how happy you make him feel
- tell you how important you are to him
Because an obsessive guy doesn’t value himself and other things in life, he can be very sensitive about the thing that matters to him the most (you). He can become anxious and jealous (especially if he feels that you’re slipping away) and do one of the above things to re-establish a connection he previously had with you.
Doing so would give him control and ease his mind.
5)He doesn’t like your male friends
A guy who keeps pointing out your male friends’ flaws does that for a reason. He doesn’t do it to protect you from your friends, but rather to make himself look good in comparison to them.
It’s a basic psychological trick spiteful, insecure, immature, and jealous people use all the time. They use it when they’re losing control and feel threatened by their competition.
Little do such emotion-driven people know that high-value women don’t appreciate bitter behavior. They value those who uplift others and see the good in them.
6)He wants to isolate you and be your savior
Jealous guys want a woman all to themselves. They don’t want her talking to other guys and going out alone because that would give her an opportunity to make friends or even worse, meet someone new.
So to stay in control of their highly volatile emotions, possessive guys come up with reasons why a woman can’t or shouldn’t go somewhere and why she should spend more time with them.
Oftentimes, they say that the place she’s going to is not safe and that she should spend time at home or with them.
Some of the typical ways guys isolate the woman they’re interested in is to say that they:
- care about the woman and want the best for her
- think her friends may not be the best for her (instill doubt)
- know of a better place or activity she should participate in (something they can also participate in or at least have control over)
7)He’s pretending to be your boyfriend
A guy who’s eager or rather, anxious to connect with you could pretend to be your boyfriend.
He could joke about it or be serious, and try to get close to you by spending as much time with you as possible. He could do anything that gives him an opportunity to be around you.
You could see him:
- telling you where the two of you are going later
- coming to take care of you when you’re sick (inviting himself)
- buying you flowers, chocolates, and sending you letters
- joking about sleeping with you, going on vacation with you, marrying you…
A guy who’s jealous and likes you will try to secure a spot in your life as quickly as he can. He won’t have the patience to wait for someone to take his spot, so he’ll take the initiative, appear desperate, and do what he must to be with you.
7 subtle signs a guy is jealous and likes you
If a guy has decent emotional self-control and likes you, he might not be the most impulsive guy out there, but you’ll probably still notice that your validation means a lot to him and that he gets jealous at times.
This is normal because someone who’s been spending a lot of time with you is likely emotionally invested in you and may not be able to hide his true feelings for you.
What you need to do is to keep an eye on signs of jealousy and react appropriately once you’re certain about the guy’s feelings and intentions.
Here are 7 subtle signs that a guy is jealous and likes you.
1)Nervous body language
You’ve probably heard that your body speaks for itself. It reveals hidden feelings, opinions, and intentions, so all you have to do to see if a guy is jealous and likes you is to observe how he behaves when he feels threatened.
Wait for some other guy to challenge him and look out for:
- a change in tone (louder, more talkative, or very silent)
- competitiveness (trying to take the lead and impress you)
- nervous/closed body language (crossed arms/legs, avoiding eye contact, twitching, pouting, clenching fists, biting fingers, leg-bouncing)
Every person acts in a certain way when he or she is nervous or jealous. The guy you’re curious about does too. So pay attention to his body language.
2)He gets paranoid when he doesn’t hear from you
Another sign that a guy is jealous and likes you is if the guy appears extremely worried about your health and safety. He could say he’s been thinking that something has happened to you and that he feels relieved now that you’re safe.
A guy who acts like this clearly cares about you and could even be paranoid that you’re focusing on people and activities that don’t include him.
3)He brags about his life
People brag when they feel they deserve more credit than they get.
And the same goes for the guy in question. If he brags about the things he has or is good at, he clearly wants to impress you and make you like him more.
A guy who brags could say that he’s:
- talented, smart, ambitious, hardworking
- extremely reliable and a good friend
- got a good degree
- got a lot of money
- had many women chase him
- left women because they weren’t up to his standards
When you notice a guy brag about his life openly and shamelessly, it’s important to understand that the guy lacks self-assurance. He feels insecure and hopes that your recognition will boost his ego and complete him.
4)He reports everything to you
Another sign that a guy is jealous and likes you is if the guy tells you everything that happens to him. This could mean that he wants you to pay attention to him and be the only person you hear and learn from.
In return, he wants you to rely on him for information and support and establish regular communication so that the two of you have more reasons to converse.
5)He helps you make decisions that aren’t in your best interest
A guy who’s jealous and insecure may tell you he wants the best for you, but when it comes to helping you make decisions, he’ll always make sure he can benefit from it.
For example, if you’re switching jobs, he’ll encourage you to take the job closer to him so that he can spend more time with you and get closer to you. He’ll do this because his happiness comes before yours.
6)He says you’re too good for him and others
If a guy says you’re too good for him, he s likely sad/depressed, has low self-esteem, and feels sorry for himself. Something about him is not emotionally healthy, so you need to be careful.
But if he says that others are not good for you, then he’s probably just trying to change your mind about someone you talk to. It’s your job to figure out if the guy is your friend or if he’s merely saying that as a diversion tactic.
7)He appears weak and helpless
The last sign that a guy is jealous and likes you is if he needs you or pretends to need you to be happy. This could be a sign that he’s trying to force you to stop caring about others and start caring about him.
If this is what the guy wants, you’ll notice that his problems, questions, and requests keep on coming and that you’re someone he wants or needs in his life to get by.
Can you think of any more signs that a guy is jealous and likes you? Post them below in the comments section.
To a degree, jealousy is warranted if the woman he is interested in displays bad behavior ie; has many guy friends and flirts with them, possibly having sex with them, keeping them as backups, likes the attention and validation from numerous men. Absolutely disgusting. Don’t always make the jealous guy a bad person.
100% correct!
Thank you for telling us about the dangers of getting involved with a jealous person… hope to see the signs and not get involved
Thank you a lot for most authentic articles
Happy holidays 🤍