What is the song about?

The song follows an entire day through emotions. In the morning, the narrator is happy. Then come sadness (tears, rain on the windowpane), anger (a red face, the urge to scream) and worry for the next day. In the evening, he is tired and wants to sleep. The chorus asks the big question: Comment te sens-tu aujourd'hui ? It reminds us that all emotions have their place.

Useful vocabulary

  • Emotions: heureux / heureuse, triste, en colère, inquiet / inquiète, fatigué(e), las / lasse (literary word for "fatigué")
  • The body: les joues, le visage, la tête, le ventre, les yeux, le cœur
  • les larmes coulent: crying / tears are flowing
  • un large sourire: a big smile
  • le lendemain: the following day

Expressions

  • avoir la boule au ventre: to be very anxious, to be afraid
  • avoir envie de + infinitive: J'ai envie de crier
  • avoir peur de + noun: J'ai peur de la route
  • laisse aller: let go, stop holding back your emotions (we also say laisse-toi aller)
  • le soleil a filé: the sun left quickly (filer is informal for "partir vite")

Grammar

  • Reflexive verbs: je me lève, je me sens, je m'énerve, je m'inquiète. The pronoun changes with the person: tu te sens, il se sent.
  • Question with inversion: Comment te sens-tu ? is the formal form. In spoken French, people often say Comment tu te sens ?
  • Imperative: Montre tes larmes, Laisse aller, Dis-le-moi. With the affirmative imperative, pronouns are placed after the verb and connected by hyphens: dis-le-moi. The lyrics write "Dis-le moi", but the correct form is dis-le-moi.
  • Passé composé with être: Le soir est venu. With avoir: le soleil a filé.
  • Simple future: les ombres fuiront (from the verb fuir).
  • Agreement: the narrator says je suis fatigué, je me sens heureux. A woman would say fatiguée, heureuse.

Watch out for poetic license

  • les cieux: poetic plural. In everyday life, we say le ciel.
  • pendant que le vent brise: briser normally requires an object (le vent brise une branche). This word was chosen to rhyme with grise. To describe the wind, we rather say le vent souffle.
  • quitter le fond: unusual phrasing, chosen to rhyme with profond. The common expression is toucher le fond (to feel very down / to hit rock bottom).
  • il y a tout qui bouge: informal spoken phrasing. In standard French, we say tout bouge.
  • Toutes les émotions résonnent tout bas: a poetic image, not an everyday sentence.