So is there a word when you are dating someone but you are not necessarily proclaiming you are in love with them?
Hmm. Not really.
The word "kæreste" is the term for an official girl or boyfriend. Someone you are going steady with. The step up from this is an engagement.
I mean, you are either sweethearts or you are not. Otherwise you are just friends, I suppose - with or without benefits.
And his choice of the word 'lovers' for his son and girlfriend soubds a bit weird as well but that might be a translation issue and perfectly normal in Danish.
Addendum.
Lovers can be translated to "elskende" which normally means someone who has a passionate and usually sexual relationship - but not necessarily someone who have or
can have an official relationship.
Say, a relationship between someone who are married to someone else.
For those who remember Shogun - Blackthorne and Mariko were "elskende". (The historical figures in all likelihood never met BTW.)
So were Romeo and Juliet.
- That however is hardly the case for Nikolai and Benedicte. So they can go official and be "kærester".
I simply love dissecting nuances of a language!
Helps me to get a much deeper understanding of my own language, as well as of English.