Relationship Questions

What is it called when you're living with your boyfriend/girlfriend but you are not married yet?

What is it called when a couple decides they don't want to get married but plays the role of a married couple?

Solution 1:

You would say such couples were cohabiting.

cohabit: intransitive verb To live together as or as if a married couple - Merriam-Webster

They cohabited in a small apartment in the city.

Solution 2:

It all depends upon the perceived state of your relationship and how much you want to reveal.

A simple "Boyfriend/girlfriend" (sometimes even just "friend") is acceptable even for a couple living together.

In some places, the law gives rights to couples who live together more than a certain amount of time, also called common-law marriage or a de facto relationship. Members of such couples refer to each other as "common-law husband/wife" or even just "husband/wife", even if they're not actually married.

And finally, people who have gone through the engagement ritual will call each other fiancé/fiancée even if "setting a date" for the wedding is a far-off proposition.

Solution 3:

Among my circle of friends in California, we (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) call it an MLR (marriage-like relationship) when two people are essentially living a married lifestyle but have not taken formal marriage vows. This is a term we (as far as I know) made up and that is not used anywhere else, but if you like it, feel free to spread it around.

Solution 4:

Shacking up is an informal way of saying cohabiting. On a form you might fill in cohabiting. Talking with friends or family you might say "shacking up".

Shack up: Verb: shack up

Share living quarters; usually said of people who are not married and live together as a couple - cohabit, live together

Derived forms: shacking up, shacked up, shacks up

Type of: dwell, inhabit, live, populate

-- WordWeb Online