“La Vie en Rose” (Meaning: Life in pink; Pronunciation: la vi ɑ̃ ʀoz) is the most famous and signature song of Édith Piaf, France’s greatest singer of all time. In this post I explain the vocabulary and grammar of the song’s French lyrics.
Song overview
Édith Piaf was born in 1915 and started her singing career in the 1930s in Paris. The song La Vie en rose came out in World War II and became the greatest French music hit of of all time. In the lyrics, Piaf evokes innocent and youthful feelings of love she has for a man, singing “Quand il me prend dans ses bras, Il me parle tout bas, Je vois la vie en rose” (When he takes me into his arms, he speaks to me in a soft voice, I see la vie en rose).
La vie en rose meaning
The expression voir la vie en rose means “to be happy and optimistic”. Some people use the translation “to look at life through rose tinted glasses”. Another translation of la vie en rose is “life in pink (or rosy) hues”. Essentialy, voir la vie en rose means to have a positive outlook on life.
La Vie en rose French lyrics and English translation
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche,
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens
Eyes that make me lower mine,
A laugh that loses itself on his lips
There, the untouched portrait,
From the man I belong to
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose.
When he takes me into his arms
He speaks to me in a soft voice
I see la vie en rose.
Il me dit des mots d’amour,
Des mots de tous les jours,
Et ça me fait quelque chose.
He says words of love to me,
Everyday words,
And that does something to me.
Il est entré dans mon cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause.
He has entered into my heart
A slice of happiness
Of which I know the reason
C’est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui
Dans la vie, Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie.
It’s me for him and him for me
In life, He said it to me, and swore it for life.
Et dès que je l’aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat.
And once I see him
Then I feel inside of me
My heart that’s beating
Des nuits d’amour à ne plus en finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Des ennuis des chagrins, s’effacent
Heureux, heureux a en mourir.
Nights of love that don’t end
A great happiness that takes its place
Trouble and grief fades
To die from happiness
Vocabulary and grammar of the French lyrics
In the following section I explain the vocabulary and grammar of the song lyrics. Wherever applicable, I provide links to additional resources.
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
I translated this line to “Eyes that make me lower mine”. Les yeux means eyes and is the plural of un œil (an eye). The verb baisser translates to “to lower”. Les miens is a possessive pronoun meaning “mine”.
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
I translated this line to “A laugh that loses itself on his lips”. In the reflexive form, se perdre means “is lost”. Bouche literally means “mouth” but I used the “lips” in the translation.
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
I translated this line to “There, the untouched portrait”. The word voilà has many translations including “there”. In the context of this line, Piaf is painting a metaphorical picture of her lover and suggesting that he’s perfect just the way he is.
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens
In this line, “de l’homme auquel j’appartiens” (from the man I belong to), the word auquel is a relative pronoun. The literal translation of auquel is “to which” or “to whom”. In colloquial French, auquel could also be written à qui.
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
This line translates “When he takes me in his arms”. The expression, prendre quelqu’un dans les bras translates literally “to take somebody into the arms and means “to hug”.
Il me parle tout bas
This line translates to “He speaks to me in a soft voice”. The me in this line is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”. Translations for the expression parler tout bas include to speak softly or quietly and to whisper.
Je vois la vie en rose
This line, which also includes the song title, has many translations. The literal translation is “I see life in pink”. What Piaf is really trying to say is that she sees life beautifully.
Il me dit des mots d’amour
This line translates to “He says words of love to me”. Again, the me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”. Dit is the third-person singular form of dire (to say). Amour is the French word for love and mot means “word”.
Des mots de tous les jours
This line translates to “everyday words”. Tous les jours means everyday. I believe that in this line Piaf is suggesting the lover can say any sort of basic banalities and she feels happy.
Et ça me fait quelque chose
This line can translates to “And that does something to me”. The word fait is the third-person singular form of faire (to make, to do). Quelque chose means “something”
Il est entré dans mon cœur
This line translates to “He entered my heart”. Entrer (to enter) requires the use of être as an auxiliary verb in the passé composé. The masculine noun cœur means “heart”.
Une part de bonheur
This line was difficult to translate. I went with Linq‘s translation: “a slice of happiness”.
Dont je connais la cause
The line translates to “of which I know the reason”. Dont is a relative pronoun, with translations including whose, of which and that. La cause can translate to both “cause” and “reason”.
C’est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui
This line translates to “It’s me for him and him for me”. Both lui and moi are stressed pronouns, translating to “him” and “me”.
Dans la vie, Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie.
This line translates to “In life, he said it to me, and swore it for life.”. In this line, the “l'” in “l’a dit” and “l’a duré” is a direct object pronoun and meaning “it”.
Et dès que je l’aperçois
This line translates literally to “And once I see him”. Translations of “dès que” include once, as soon as and the moment that. Apercevoir can translate to “to catch sight of” or “glimpse”.
Alors je sens en moi
This line translates to “Then I feel inside of me”. Alors translates to so and then. Sentir means to feel and to sense.
Mon cœur qui bat
This line translates to “My heart that beats”. Qui is a relative pronoun meaning “that” or “which”. Battre means to beat or to hit.
Des nuits d’amour a ne plus en finir
This line translates to “Nights of love that never end”. The grammar for this line is very difficult. Ne…plus is a French negation meaning anymore. The object pronoun en has many translations. including “it” and “some”
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
This line translates to “A great happiness that takes its place”. Translation of bonheur include happiness, joy, pleasure and delight.
Des ennuis des chagrins s’effacent
I translated this line to “Trouble and grief fade”. Ennuis translates to troubles, problems and worries. Chagrin translates to unhappiness, grief, sorrow and sadness. S’effacer means to fade.
Heureux, heureux a en mourir
This line translates loosely to “To die from happiness”. En in this context can translate to “from”. En is an object pronoun filling in for “mourir de + object”, or “to die from + object (happiness)”.
Discover more French songs:
- Top French songs of all time
- Top 12 Édith Piaf songs
- Hymne à l’amour (Édith Piaf)
- Non, je ne regrette rien (Édith Piaf)
- Mon Dieu (Édith Piaf)
- Milord (Edith Piaf)
- Sous se ciel de Paris (Édith Piaf)
- Padam, Padam (Édith Piaf)
- Pour que tu m’aimes encore (Céline Dion)
- La Bohème (Charles Aznavour)
French songs | Lessons by David Issokson
