“Tous les mêmes“ (Pronunciation: tus le mɛm; Meaning: all the same) is song by French-speaking Belgian singer Stromae, released in 2013 on the album, Racine Carrée. The song was a big hit in Europe, reaching the top of the charts. In a nutshell, the song deals with the stereotypes women have towards men in long-term relationships.
Song synopsis
In the YouTube video, Stromae is dressed as a woman. Stromae wakes up between a man an a women. She (Stromae in the video and song) then proceeds to complain about typical female stereotypes towards men: “You’re all the same” (Vous êtes tous les mêmes), bunch of unfaithful people (Bande de mauviettes infidèles). The video ends with Stromae dancing in front of a café both a group of dancers then a female dancer.
Tous les mêmes – French lyrics and English translation
Vous les hommes vous êtes tous les mêmes
Macho mais cheap, bande de mauviettes infidèles
Si prévisibles, non je ne suis pas certaine, que-que-que tu l’mérites
Z’avez d’la chance qu’on vous aime
Dis-moi “merci”
You men are all the same
Macho but cheap, bunch of cheating wimps
So predictable, no, I’m not certain that you deserve it
You’re lucky that we love you
Thank me
Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous au prochain règlement
Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous sûrement aux prochaines règles
Meeting, meeting, meeting, see you at the next time of the month
Meeting, meeting, meeting, certainly at the next times of the month
Cette fois c’était la dernière, tu peux croire que c’est qu’une crise
Mate une dernière fois mon derrière, il est à côté de mes valises
Tu diras au revoir à ta mère, elle qui t’idéalise
Tu n’vois même pas tout c’que tu perds avec une autre ce serait pire
Quoi toi aussi tu veux finir maintenant? C’est l’monde à l’envers
Moi, je l’disais pour t’faire réagir seulement, toi t’y pensais
This time was the last, you can believe that it’s only a crisis
Take one last look at my behind, it’s next to my suitcases
You’ll say goodbye to your mom, who idealizes you
You don’t even see everything you’ll use with another, it will be worse
What you also want to finish now? The world is turned upside down
I just said it to get a reaction, you meant it
Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous au prochain règlement
Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous sûrement aux prochaines règles
Meeting, meeting, meeting, see you at the next time of the month
Meeting, meeting, meeting, certainly at the next times of the month
Facile à dire, je suis gnangnan
Et que j’aime trop les bla-bla-bla, mais non, non, non, c’est important
Ce que t’appelles les ragnagnas, tu sais la vie, c’est des enfants
Mais comme toujours, c’est pas l’bon moment
Ah oui pour les faire là, tu es présent, mais pour les élever y aura qu’des absents
It’s easy to say I’m a wussy
And that I like talking too much, but no, it’s not important
What will you call my time of the month, You know life is for having kids
But like always, it’s never the right time
For making babies you’re here, but for raising them you’re gone.
Lorsque je n’serais plus belle ou du moins au naturel
Arrête je sais que tu mens, il n’y a que Kate Moss qui est éternelle
Moche ou bête (c’est jamais bon)
Bête ou belle (c’est jamais bon)
Belle ou moi (c’est jamais bon)
Moi ou elle (c’est jamais bon)
When I’m not beautiful anymore or at least without makeup
Stop! I know you’re lying. Only Kate Moss will stay beautiful forever
Ugly or stupid (it’s never good)
Ugly or stupid (it’s never good)
Me or here (t’s never good)
Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous au prochain règlement
Rendez-vous, rendez-vous, rendez-vous sûrement aux prochaines règles
Meeting, meeting, meeting, see you at the next time of the month
Meeting, meeting, meeting, certainly at the next times of the month
Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes et y’en a marre
Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes et y’en a marre
Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes et y’en a marre
Tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes, tous les mêmes
All the same, all the same, all the same and I’ve had it
All the same, all the same, all the same and I’ve had it
All the same, all the same, all the same and I’ve had it
All the same, all the same, all the same
Tous les mêmes – song title meaning
The word tous means all. In this song title, the -s is pronounced. When saying “Je les aime tous” (I like all of them), for example, the -s is also pronounced. However, when saying “tous les jour”, the -s is silent. The word les means “the” in French. This is a definite article.
The words même has multiple translations including “same” and “even”. Les mêmes means “the same”. In the context of the song, all men are les mêmes (the same).
Lyrics analysis
In the following section we have selected lines from from the song of interest which we think offer interesting insights in to French grammar and vocabulary.
Vous les hommes vous êtes tous les mêmes
This line translates to “You men are all the same”. Vous êtes in French means “you are”. This is the third-person plural form of verb être (to be). There are two ways to say you in French: Tu for somebody you know or a child, or “vous” for a stranger or group of people.
Macho mais cheap, bande de mauviettes infidèles
This line translates to “Macho but cheap, bunch of cheating wimps”. The word bande translates to “group” or “gang”. “Bande de + noun” translates to “bunch of + noun”.
The word “mauviette” is highly derogatory and translates to “wimp” or “sissy”. The adjective “infidèle” translates to “unfaithful”, “disloyal” and cheating.
Si prévisibles, non je ne suis pas certaine, que-que-que tu l’mérites
This line translates to “So predictable, no, I’m not certain that you deserve it”. The adjective prévisible translates to “predictable” or “foreseeable”. The adjective certain is in the feminine form, “certaine” because Stromae is singing the lyrics from the point of view of a female.
Que tu l’mérites translates to “that you deserve it. The “l'” is a shortening of “le”, which in this situation is a direct object pronoun, meaning “it”.
Z’avez d’la chance qu’on vous aime
This line translates to “You’re lucky that we love you”. “Z’avez” is a shortening of “Vous avez”, which is the third-person plural form of the verb avoir (to have). The expression “avoir de la chance“ means “to be lucky”.
Dis-moi “merci”
This line translates literally to “Tell me, thank you”. There is a verb for “to thank” in French: remercier.
Rendez-vous au prochain règlement / sûrement aux prochaines règles
This line translates to “meeting” or “see you at the next time of the month (woman’s menstruation cycle)”. Rendez-vous can translate to “meeting”, “appointment” or “see you…”. The feminine plural noun, règles translates to menstrual period.
Cette fois c’était la dernière, tu peux croire que c’est qu’une crise
This line translates to “This time was the last, you can believe that it’s only a crisis”. The word fois means “time” as in how many times. This is compared to temps, which means both weather and time (as in “I have lots of time today”).
“Tu peux croire” means “you can believe”. This is pouvoir (can, to be able) conjugated in the “tu” form.
Mate une dernière fois mon derrière, il est à côté de mes valises
This line translates to “Take one last look at my behind, it’s next to my suitcases”. The verb mater means “to subdue” or “to quell”. However, another translation is “to look at”. The word derrière is both a preposition for “behind” and a noun for buttocks.
Tu diras au revoir à ta mère, elle qui t’idéalise
This line translates to “You’ll say goodbye to your mom, who idealizes you”. Tu diras is the future tense of dire (to say). Au revoir is the more formal way of saying “goodbye”.
Tu n’vois même pas tout c’que tu perds avec une autre ce serait pire
This line translates to “You don’t even see everything you’ll use with another, it will be worse”. “N’vois meme pas” is shortening of “ne + verb + pas”, which is the standard French negation. Ce serait pire means “this would be worse”. This is“être (to be) in the conditional tense.
Quoi toi aussi tu veux finir maintenant? C’est l’monde à l’envers
This line translates to “What you also want to finish now? The world is turned upside down”. The French word quoi means “what”
The preposition envers can cause some confusion. As a noun it means “underside” or “back”. As a preposition it means “to” or “towards”. The preposition vers means “to” or “in the direct of”. For example, “Je marche vers la plage” (I’m walking towards the beach).
Moi, je l’disais pour t’faire réagir seulement, toi t’y pensais
This line translates to “I just said it to get a reaction, you meant it”. Y is an indirect pronoun. It can translate to “there”. The other main usage is to refer back to a previously spoken topic for verbs followed by the preposition “à” (to, at).
Facile à dire, je suis gnangnan
This line translates to “It’s easy to say I’m a wussy”. The informal adjective gnangnan (pronounced ɲɑ̃ɲɑ̃) has multiple meanings including, “wussy”, “feeble” and “soppy”.
Et que j’aime trop les bla-bla-bla, mais non, non, non, c’est important
This line translates to “And that I like talking too much, but no, it’s not important”. The adver trop translates to “too” or “too much”. “Trop de + noun” means “to much”.
Ce que t’appelles les ragnagnas, tu sais la vie, c’est des enfants
This line translates to “What will you call my time of the month, You know life is for having kids”. Ragnagnas is a slang term used to refer to the menstruation cycle.
Mais comme toujours, c’est pas l’bon moment
This line translates to “But like always, it’s never the right time”. The expression, “Ce n’est pas le moment“ translates to “It’s not the right time”. The word bon (literally “good”) is added to give emphasis to “the right”.
Ah oui pour les faire là, tu es présent, mais pour les élever y aura qu’des absents
This line translates to “For making babies you’re here, but for raising them you’re gone”. “Y aura” is the future tense of il y a, which translate to “there is”, “there are” and “ago”.
Lorsque je n’serais plus belle ou du moins au naturel
This line translates to “When I’m not beautiful anymore or at least without makeup”. The word lorsque means “when” and is used as a connecting word, or conjunction.
Arrête je sais que tu mens, il n’y a que Kate Moss qui est éternelle
This line translates to “Stop! I know you’re lying. Only Kate Moss will stay beautiful forever”. The adjective éternel in French has the same meaning as it has in English: “eternal” or “everlasting”. We got our translation “beautiful forever” from this YouTube video of Tous les mêmes.
Moche ou bête (c’est jamais bon)
This line translates to “Ugly or stupid (it’s never good)”. The words moche and laid both mean ugly. Bête can translate to both “silly” and “stupid”. C’est jamais bon omits the “ne” infront of “est” for a slang effect. Jamais means never.
More Stromae songs:
- Papaoutai – Stromae
- La solassitude – Stromae
- Bonne journée – Stromae
- Fils de joie – Stromae
- Mon amour
- Santé
- L’enfer
- Alors on danse
- Formidable
French songs | Lessons by David Issokson
