What is the song about?
The singer describes their tastes: they like the morning sun, peace and quiet, light, books, and nature. They don't like winter, noise, night, or waiting. In the bridge, someone suggests going dancing in town, but they prefer to stay on their sofa. At the end, they say they are staying with this person: c'est mon choix à moi.
Useful words and expressions
- se lever tôt: to get up early, to get out of bed early
- se promener: to go for a walk, to walk for pleasure
- avoir froid: to feel cold (you say avoir froid, not être froid)
- ça me remplit de joie: it fills me with joy, it makes me very happy
- sucré ou salé: sweet or savory, two types of taste (cake or chips, for example)
- Chacun ses goûts: everyone has their own preferences (to each their own)
- ça ne me gêne pas: it doesn't bother me, I don't mind
- sous mon toit: under my roof, at home, sheltered
- ça m'énerve: it annoys me, it makes me angry; pour de bon: for good, really
- pour être honnête: to be honest, to tell the truth
- ce n'est pas ma tasse de thé: it's not my thing, I don't like it (literally, "it's not my cup of tea"). This is an expression borrowed from English, common and informal in French.
Grammar
Expressing likes and dislikes
From most positive to most negative: adorer → aimer (beaucoup) → ne pas aimer → détester. To compare, we use préférer.
These verbs are used in two ways:
- with a noun and the definite article: J'aime le soleil, Je déteste le bruit. You do not say j'aime du soleil.
- with an infinitive: J'adore me promener, Je déteste attendre, Je préfère sourire.
The negation ne… pas
The verb goes between ne and pas: Je n'aime pas la nuit. Before a vowel, ne becomes n'. With a pronoun, it also stays between the two: La pluie ne me gêne pas.
Note: after aimer, adorer, or détester, the definite article does not change in the negative form: je n'aime pas le bruit (and not de bruit).
Other structures
- ce qui me plaît: the thing that I like (plaire à quelqu'un).
- à moi reinforces the possessive: c'est mon choix à moi = it's really my own choice.
Watch out for choices made for the rhyme
- la grande cité: to rhyme with thé and liberté, the song uses cité. In everyday life, people usually say la grande ville. Today, une cité often refers to a housing estate with large apartment blocks, or the old part of a city.
- Je préfère la nature à toutes les maisons: this sentence is used to rhyme with pour de bon. More naturally, you would say je préfère la nature à la ville.