"הגבר חושב שהאישה אוהבת אותו."
Translation:The man thinks that the woman loves him.
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Well, originally בָּחוּר was a youth elegible for military service, therefore certainly more a גֶּ֫בֶר צָעִיר young man than a יֶ֫לֶד boy. It can be used affectionately as guy or lad.
@Inge hi, just wanted to add that between יֶ֫לֶד and בָּחוּר the word נער is used from 13 to 18 (from bar mitzva age, even among secular) and נערה for girls mutatis mutandis (12-18).
Having said this, there is overlap and people will often call a younger teenager יֶ֫לֶד and call older looking teenagers בָּחוּר (in both cases instead of נער)
Why isn't: the man thinks that the woman loves it, an adequate translation? I know the automatic translation would probably be "loves him"- but is there any reason why this wouldn't work?
For instance, maybe a guy bought her jewellery from a store and the employee who recommended a specific piece is asked by his boss - what the receiver of the gift thinks... Yes, the guy thinks she loves it. (Sorry for the lengthy explanation, but in case anyone thought there wouldn't be a scenario where it could be used).
He may have picked up on the fact that she does indeed love him, but she’s too shy to show it.
Ha-gever khoshev she-ha-isha ohevet oto.
When ohev is used in regard to people, it almost always means “loves”.
So how would I say (as we did in high school) "I think she likes you"?
@Michael Your high school question is the same romantic meaning of the lesson (as Theresa correctly noted).
So, she likes or loves is still = אוהבת , but if you want an approximation of your initial query: "The man thinks that the woman likes him"? in a friendly sort of way, you might hear:
""הגבר חושב שהאישה מחבבת אותו."
or a possibly more 'romantic' connotation הגבר חושב שהוא מוצא חן בעינייה
but it would seem that אני חושב שהיא מחבבת אותך is not what you meant for the high school question.
lastly, on the theme of his error about even non-romantic feelings: הגבר חושב שהם ידידים.
The high school question is in a romantic sense, but she could like someone without yet loving him - meaning she's willing to give it a chance, but hasn't gone all the emotional way. You could say in Hebrew היא מחבבת אותך, but more natural (at the price of "syntactic castling") would be אתה מוצא חן בעיניה.