“Love Story” is a hit song by French singer Indila. Released in 2014 on the album Mini World, Love Story reached the top of the charts in Europe and in the French-speaking world.
Love Story – Song synopsis
Indila’s “Love Story” recounts the story of two separated lovers. In the song, Indila sings the lines a narrator in a polar setting, as well as the alternating lines of the man and woman in present and past settings.
In the beginning of the YouTube video, the song describes an older man who holds a rose in his hand (une rose à la main; a rose in the hand) and looks at an old picture of his long departed lover. The man can then be seen placing a rose on her grave.
Later in the song and video there’s a scene of the younger couple dressed in World War II style clothing saying goodbye to each other in a port. Now, the female is singing about her regrets (Arrête, comme je regrette, Stop, as I’m sorry).
It is presumed that the man and woman never saw one another again after saying goodbye to each other at the port.
Indila Love Story French Lyrics & English Translation
L’âme en peine
Il vit mais parle à peine
Il attend devant cette photo d’antan
Il, il n’est pas fou
Il y croit c’est tout
Il la voit partout
Il l’attend debout
Une rose à la main
À part elle il n’attend rien
Lost soul
He lives but barely speaks
He waits in front of this picture from years ago
He’s not crazy
He believes in it, that’s all
He sees her everywhere
He waits for her standing
With a rose in his hand
Besides her, he’s not waiting for anything
Rien autour n’a de sens
Et l’air est lourd
Le regard absent
Il est seul et lui parle souvent
Il, il n’est pas fou
Il l’aime c’est tout
Il la voit partout
Il l’attend debout
Debout une rose à la main
Non, non plus rien ne le retient
Nothing around him makes any sense
The air is very heavy
An absent expression
He’s alone and speaks to her often
He’s not crazy
He loves her, that’s all
He sees her everywhere
He waits for her standing up
With a rose in his hand
No, nothing else is holding him back
Dans sa love story
Dans sa love story
Dans sa love story
Sa love story
In his love story
In his love story
In his love story
His love story
Prends ma main
Promets-moi que tout ira bien
Serre-moi fort
Près de toi, je rêve encore
Oui, oui je veux rester
Mais je ne sais plus aimer
J’ai été trop bête
Je t’en prie, arrête
Arrête, comme je regrette
Non, je ne voulais pas tout ça
Take my hand
Promise me everything will be okay
Hold me tight
Near you, I still dream
Yes, yes I want to stay
But I don’t know how to love anymore
I was too stupid
Please, stop
Stop, as I’m sorry
No, I didn’t want all that
Je serai riche
Et je t’offrirai tout mon or
Et si tu t’en fiches
Je t’attendrai sur le port
Et si tu m’ignores
Je t’offrirai mon dernier souffle de vie
I’ll be rich
I’ll offer you all my gold
And you don’t care
I’ll wait for you at the harbor
and if you ignore me
I’ll give you my last breath of life
Dans ma love story
Dans ma love story
Dans ma love story
Ma love story
In my love story
In my love story
In my love story
My love story
Une bougie
Peut illuminer la nuit
Un sourire
Peut bâtir tout un empire
Et il y a toi
Et il y a moi
Et personne n’y croit
Mais l’amour fait d’un fou un roi
Et si tu m’ignores
J’me battrai encore et encore
A candle
Can light up the night
A smile
Can build an empire
And there’s you
and there’s me
And nobody believes it
But love makes a crazy person into a king
And if you ignore me
I’ll fight again and again
C’est ta love story
C’est ta love story
C’est l’histoire d’une vie
Love story
It’s your love story
It’s your love story
It’s the story of your life
Love story
Des cris de joie
Quelques larmes on s’en va
On vit dans cette love story
Love story (repeated 9 times)
Screams of joy
A few tears, let’s go
We live in this love story
Love story (repeated 9 times)
Indila Love Story Lyrics Analysis
In the following section we have selected specific lines from the song’s lyrics which we think offer interesting insights in to French vocabulary and grammar.
L’âme en peine
The expression, l’âme en peine translates to “lost soul” or “soul in torment”. In French, “âme” means “soul” and “peine” means sorrow, grief or anguish. The lyrics of the song Tous Les Garçons et Les Filles by Françoise Hardy also has this expression.
Il vit mais parle à peine
This line translates to “He lives but barely speaks”. “Vit” comes from the verb vivre which means “to live” or “to be alive”. The expression, à peine means barely.
Il attend devant cette photo d’antan
This line translates to “He waits in front of this picture from years ago”. Attend comes from the verb attendre (to wait). The verb “attendre” can also to translate to “to expect”.
The preposition devant means “physically in front of”. Antan is a literary word meaning before, of yesteryear or of long ago.
Il, il n’est pas fou
This line means “He’s not crazy”. The adjective fou/folle means crazy. “Est” is the third-person singular (il/elle/on; he, she, one) form of the verb être (to be).
Il y croit c’est tout
This line translates to “He believes in it, that’s all”. “Croit” is the third-person form of croire (to believe). Y is an indirect object pronoun meaning “it”. Y is used for verbs followed by the preposition “à“. In the context of the song’s lyrics, we believe the y (it) refers to the man’s love for the woman and her eventual return.
Il la voit partout
This line translates to “he sees her everywhere”. In this line, la is a direct object pronoun and means “her”. The word “la” is also the feminine form of the direct article, meaning “the”.
Il l’attend debout
This line translates to “He waits for her standing”. Again, the l’ is the direct object pronoun, meaning “her”. Debout means “standing” or “upright”.
Une rose à la main
This line translates literally to “at the hand” but means “in his hand”. Body parts in French are almost always preceded by the direct article (le, la, les meaning “the”) and not the possessive adjective (his, her, etc.).
À part elle il n’attend rien
This line translates to “Besides her, he’s not waiting for anything”. The expression, à part means “except for” or “besides”. Il n’attend rien can translate to both “He doesn’t wait for anything” or “He waits for nothing”. Rien means “nothing” or “anything”. The negation ne + verb + rien means “does not + verb + anything”.
Rien autour n’a de sens
This line translates to “Nothing around him makes any sense”. In addition to being used in the negation, rien can also be the subject of a sentence. The expression ne pas avoir de sens translates to not make any sense. The word sens means “sense” or “meaning”.
Et l’air est lourd
The line translates to “and the air is heavy”. Air translates to both “air” and “atmosphere”. The adjective lourd means “heavy”.
Le regard absent
This line translates to “An absent expression”. While the verb regarder means “to watch” and “to look at”, the noun regard translates to “expression”, “look” and “gaze”.
Non, non plus rien ne le retient
This line translates to “No, nothing else is holding him back”. Plus rien means “nothing more” or “nothing else”. The verb retenir means “to retain” or “to hold back”.
Promets-moi que tout ira bien
This line translates to “Promise me everything will be okay”. “Tout ira bien” translates literally to “all will go well”. This is the future tense of the verb aller (to go). The verb “aller” is used in expressions about how one is doing. For example, ça va (how’s it going?) uses aller.
Serre-moi fort
This line translates loosely to “hold me tight”. The verb serrer means “to tighten”, “to squeeze” and “to grip”.
Oui, oui je veux rester
This line translates to “Yes, yes I want to stay”. Veux is the first-person singular (je) for of the verb vouloir (to want). Rester can translate to “to stay” and “to remain”.
Mais je ne sais plus aimer
This line translates to “But I don’t know how to love anymore”. The negation ne + verb + plus translates to “anymore”.
J’ai été trop bête
This line translates to “I was too stupid”. “J’ai été“ is the passé composé (a French past tense) of être (to be). The adjective bête translate to both “silly” and “stupid”.
Je t’en prie, arrête
This line translates to “please, stop”. The expression “Je te/vous en prie” translates literally to “I beg of you” and is a way of saying please in French.
Non, je ne voulais pas tout ça
This line translates to “No, I didn’t want all that”. “Voulais” is the imperfect tense vouloir (to want).
Je serai riche, Et je t’offrirai tout mon or
These two lines translate to “I’ll be rich, I’ll offer you all my gold”. Both of these lines use the French future tense.
Et si tu t’en fiches
This line translates to “And you don’t care”. The expression s’en ficher de means “to not care about”.
Une bougie, Peut illuminer la nuit
These two lines translate to “A candle, Can light up the night”. Peut is the third-person singular (il/elle) form of the verb pouvoir (can, to be able).
Un sourire, Peut bâtir tout un empire
These lines translate to “A smile, Can build an empire” The word sourire is both the verb for “to smile” and noun for “smile”.
Et il y a toi, Et il y a moi
These lines translate to “And there’s you, and there’s me”. Il y a translate to “there is”, “there are”, and “ago”. “Moi” and “toi” are stressed (or disjunctive) pronouns and mean “me” and “you”.
Et personne n’y croit
This line translates to “And nobody believes it”. Personne means “nobody” or “anybody”.
J’me battrai encore et encore
This line translates to “I’ll fight again and again”. The reflexive verb “se battre” means “to fight”.
Des cris de joie
This line translates to “Screams of joy”. The noun cri translates to “cry”, “scream” and “should” and is related to the verb crier (to scream).
Quelques larmes on s’en va
This line translates to “A few tears, let’s go”. The reflexive verb s’en aller means “to leave”, “to go” and “to be on one’s way”.
Become an expert in French song lyrics!
Using song lyrics is one of the most effective ways to learn French. In addition to “Love Story”, we’ve also covered Indila’s hit songs “Ainsi bas la vida“, “Tourner dans le vide“, “S.O.S“, “Dernière danse“, “Caroussel“.
Stromae is a leading French-speaking Belgian singer. We’ve covered Stromae’s hit songs “Alors on danse“, “Papaoutai” and “Formidable“.
Edith Piaf is undoubtedly France’s most famous singer of all time. We’ve covered the following Edith Piaf songs: “La vie en rose“, “Non, je ne regrette rien“, “Sous le ciel de Paris“, “Milord” and “Mon Dieu“.
French songs | Lessons by David Issokson
