If you have a loved one with an ENTJ-type personality, you may be wondering how you’ll know if they care about you, since they tend to be quite emotionally closed off in some ways. ENTJs aren’t traditionally verbally affectionate, so how would you know if they like you?
ENTJs will show they like you by giving you their time, being supportive and encouraging, giving thoughtful gifts, and compromising on plans to ensure you are happy. They will give sincere compliments, be open and honest, and spend quality time with those that they love.
Since ENTJs are sociable and intuitive, they are fully aware of emotions – but that doesn’t mean they are comfortable explaining their feelings or even being empathic. So how would you know if an ENTJ likes you, and what behaviors can you expect when an ENTJ has a crush on you?
ENTJ Personalities And Defining Traits
ENTJ personalities are one of the sixteen types identified by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and based on this scale, the type of personality that you identify with reflects the way you see the world. How we act, how we reason, and how we make decisions all depend on our personality types. The ENTJ type is also known as The Commander, as they love to charge of situations.
‘ENTJ’ types are Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Judging, and they are often described as natural leaders due to their affinity for taking control of a situation. They tend to be sociable and feel energized by spending time with people.
The ability of an ENTJ to think rationally and focus on the logical elements of various situations makes them excellent at solving problems, although they tend to not factor in their own feelings, or the emotions of others.
Since ENTJs tend to have strong verbal skills and love interacting with people, one would think it is easy to realize when they have feelings for you – but because of their avoidance of emotions and struggling to verbalize how they feel, it’s just not that simple. So how would you know if an ENTJ likes you?
Here are some of the ENTJ personality’s strengths and weaknesses that may help us identify the ways in which they show their affections:
Strengths:
- Strategic thinkers: Due to their love for rational and logical thinking, ENTJs are brilliant at solving problems and being one step ahead. They are able to remove themselves from a situation and look at it from many perspectives in order to fully understand it and make the best of it. They have strong conceptual skills and tend towards clever, long-term solutions.
- Charismatic: As they are highly sociable and verbally very strong, ENTJs are charismatic and naturally fall into leadership positions. They can inspire those around them easily and their energy tends to motivate those they associate with too.
- Strong-willed: One of the best things about an ENTJ is their lack of taking offense when criticized. They are also independent and strong-willed, so when they have made a decision, they will stick to it with determination and without being swayed by those around them. They aren’t afraid to stand up for what they believe in – even if it’s something different from the norm.
- Efficient: ENTJs are supremely focused and can multitask with excellence. They are usually highly productive and often over-achieve in many aspects of their lives due to their strong belief in their own ability to succeed.
Weaknesses:
- Arrogant: With sharp thinking and a tendency for the strategic, rational, and logical, ENTJs can come across as arrogant. They have a great deal of respect for those who think the same way as they do and tend to look down on those who are less efficient or slower to grasp certain concepts. They are also self-confident, which can come across as condescending to many.
- Bottle up emotions: ENTJs don’t have a lot of empathy and aren’t fans of overtly displaying their feelings. They tend to instead set these aside and look at things from a more concrete perspective. They don’t naturally pick up on others’ emotions either and can come across as cold and unfeeling.
- Intolerance: With incredibly high standards for themselves, the ENTJ type also believes that the same should apply to those around them. And when this doesn’t realize, they can be very harsh and lack understanding for those who don’t function as they do. They would be happy if everyone did exactly as they told them to do since they believe they are generally always right.
- Blunt and domineering: ENTJs don’t believe in beating around the bush or sugar-coating anything, and when they need to criticize others, they can do so harshly and bluntly without any regard for feelings. While this isn’t done to hurt others maliciously, it often comes across as hurtful.
How Do ENTJs Show Affection?
Because this personality type is often thought to be emotionless, you may wonder how they show affection or interest in romantic partners. Just because they struggle to verbalize emotions and recognize them in others, it doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of being good romantic partners.
Showing their affection in their way, ENTJs are capable of being committed and devoted partners that can show their love for you uniquely. Knowing how they do this is important – it may come in the form of supporting your life goals, thoughtful and practical gifts, physical affection, sincere compliments, or blunt honesty, however.
If you understand that this is how they show love, you may soon realize that ENTJs have particular ways of showing they like you. Here are some ways that would identify an ENTJ liking you:
8 Ways An ENTJ Shows They Like You
ENTJs are known for being hesitant to express their emotions verbally, and if you’re expecting love poems or grand gestures that dictate their feelings for you, you may feel very disappointed. But here are eight ways that may indicate an ENTJ likes you, either romantically or even as a friend:
1. Full disclosure
They may be blunt and slightly on-the-nose, but ENTJs are good at being open and honest with those they trust. They may not speak in flowery language or present you with a heartfelt poem, but from time to time, an ENTJ will feel the need to talk openly and honestly with you about how they think.
And while it may be stated logically and rather straightforwardly, you can rest assured that if they tell you straight out, that they like you, it’s sincere and something they feel strongly about. In the same way, ENTJs can also apologize when they think they have done something wrong, and this should be seen as the value they place on you to prompt a sincere ‘I’m sorry’.
2. Physical affections
For the ENTJ, actions may speak louder than words. They aren’t very good at expressing emotions or even recognizing yours. Still, if they seek out being close to you, initiating physical contact, or other gestures like hugging or laying a hand on yours, you can be sure it’s a strong sign of their affection for you.
Despite not being particularly good at verbalizing how they feel, they don’t shy away from making it known to others that they care for you, so in crowds and groups of people, they will physically show their care and affection by being close and supportive.
3. Support and encouragement
With a love for organization and finding solutions, ENTJs feel similarly about the goals and direction of those they care about. One of the easiest ways to spot the love of an ENTJ is how committed and supportive they are of their partner’s goals and career. They will invest time, energy, and even compromise on things to help you achieve what you want to achieve.
Consistent support and motivation are how an ENTJ shows their care for you. They love to go above and beyond to make you feel supported, whether waking up early to help you with a project, finding relevant information for specific tasks, or joining you in a workout routine to keep you motivated.
4. Compromise and prioritize
Compromise is something that isn’t necessarily often done. Still, when it is, you can be assured that ENTJ values you and your relationship – your happiness being more critical than their routine or goals will manifest in them changing plans, compromising, or finding a different way to make it work. This is a definite sign of their affection for you.
Since ENTJs are problem solvers and rational, if they feel strongly for you, they will be motivated to deal with impediments to your happiness by changing things up – even if this is less than convenient for them. So, if you find that an ENTJ is stepping back on their own goals and plans to put yours first, you should take it as a sure sign of their care for you.
5. Gifts
With their love for strategic thinking and planning, ENTJs can go to great lengths to plan out perfect gifts, occasions, or events for those they love. While sometimes they may not see their physical presence as necessary (think of them having to work while it’s your birthday), you may find a thoughtful gift that contains items with deep meaning to you instead.
The planning and strategic aspect of giving meaningful gifts and memorable moments is something an ENTJ will relish doing for the people they care deeply for. And while you may not even realize that they knew all the little things that would make you happy or have meaning for you, they would’ve carefully attended to this in the days and weeks beforehand.
6. Sincere compliments
When verbalizing their emotions, ENTJs aren’t exceptionally comfortable expressing how they feel. And since they tend to be quite critical of others and hold everyone to the same high standards they expect of themselves, ENTJs can come across as overly nit-picky.
But, they are also known for saying positive things from time to time, and when they do, you should know it’s a sincere compliment. It may be understated and mentioned in passing, but when a compliment does come out, you’ll know it’s heartfelt.
7. Giving their time
Another way that ENTJs show that they care for you is by devoting their time to you. Whether it’s to help you with a project, housework, or other activities that you deem essential, ENTJs will set aside time to be with you.
This will be especially evident if you have shared interests and hobbies, and since ENTJs are devoted and have high standards, they will consistently put in the time and effort to share with you. Sometimes this will take on the form of them inviting you into their lives to share in their activities – this is a definite sign of their affection for you.
8. Acts of help and service
While ENTJs won’t gush to others about their love and care for you or their nearest and dearest, you will notice that they are around when you need a helping hand. Whether doing a chore or favor unasked, pre-empting your needs, and making sure you have what you need (think having your gas tank filled or picking up dinner if you’re working late).
If an ENTJ notices that you’re swamped and need a little help, they will be there at your side to assist you and do the things that remove stress from your shoulders. Making things easier for you is one of the ways an ENTJ shows how important you are to them, and when things are going smoothly for you, an ENTJ feels fulfilled.
How ENTJs Act Around Their Crush
Because they are so rationally focused, an ENTJ will give a lot of thought to potential romantic partners and whether a crush is worth pursuing or not. But before they even make that decision, it’s worth noting that when an ENTJ is attracted to someone, they will likely be quite proactive and bold about it.
When an ENTJ feels that the relationship has good long-term potential, they will put a great deal of effort into pursuing the person they are interested in if that person reciprocates. But since they are so strategic and logical, they may take their time to do some homework first.
An ENTJ will take the time to find out from you what you like, what your hobbies are, or what makes you smile. An ENTJ wants to know all about you, so if you find they are asking you all the right questions to learn who you are, it’s a good sign they like you.
They are also likely to go out of their way to show you that they know these things about you – like finding out the score of your favorite sports team, learning about a show or movie you like, or showing up to assist you with something you may have said you need a little help with. You will also notice they choose to be near you.
Conclusion
ENTJs aren’t the best at expressing emotions or acknowledging them, but they are thoughtful and considerate when learning about those they care for. And when they invest their time and effort into shared activities with you or be available to you whenever you need them, this is one of how they convey their affection for you.
Other ways that show that ENTJs like you include thoughtful gifts, sincere compliments, and open and honest conversations. And while they may not lavish you with romantic poems or flowery speeches, they are physically affectionate and will be supportive, encouraging, and devoted to their loved ones.
