LANGUAGE THROUGH SONG - WARLOCK (DORO)

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GERMAN:

Bleib' dir treu

Niemals auseinander geh'n

Werden immer zueinander steh'n

Für immer.

Doro has omitted quite a lot of words and sounds in these lyrics, probably to adhere to the songs rhythm/syllable count. Within the context of the song, this would not pose any issues to German speakers, but I add them below so that the lyrics may make more sense grammatically to a person learning German.

(added text in brackets)

(Ich) bleibe dir treu

(Wir werden) niemals auseinander gehen

(Wir) werden immer zueinander stehen

Für immer

ENGLISH:

I stay faithful to you

We will never part

We will always stay together

forever

VOCABULARY

treu – faithful; loyal; true

niemals – never

auseinander gehen – to leave one another; to part

zueinander – to each other; together
für – for

immer - always

für immer – for ever

GRAMMAR

TENSES:

The present tense

“(Ich) bleibe dir treu”

For those simply looking for a quick reference, present-tense conjugation tables for all of the verbs in these first few lines of the song can be found at the bottom of this post.

For those that wish to learn to form it, however, here are the rules for conjugating “regular” verbs (verbs that follow the standard pattern set out below):

1. remove the verb's infinitive ending (“en”) to reveal the verb stem.  The infinitive form of the verb is it's full form.  This would be the difference between "does" (conjugated/finite form) and "to do" (infinitive form) in English.

bleiben > bleib

2. add the relevant present tense ending, also shown in the verb tables at the end of this post:

Ich - “e” > bleibe

du - “st” > bleibst

er/sie/es/man - “t” > bleibt

ihr - “t” > bleibt*

wir/Sie/sie - “en” > bleiben*

*basically, all plural forms except for the informal plural form of “you” (ihr) keep the “en” ending.

The future tense/word order

“(Wir werden) niemals auseinander gehen”

“(Wir) werden immer zueinander stehen”

The formation of the future tense in German is really simple.

1. conjugate the verb “werden” (to become) in the present tense.

2. pair it with the relevant verb in the infinitive.

Ich gehe (I go) > Ich werde gehen (I will go)

In German, in most instances, the first verb will take a second-position place in a sentence, and will be conjugated. Any subsequent verbs will be in the infinitive form, and will be “booted” to the end of the sentence/clause:

(Wir) werden immer zueinander stehen

(Wir werden) niemals auseinander gehen

VERBS

bleiben – to stay (present tense)

ich bleibe – I stay [bl-eye-buh]

du bleibst – you stay (singular informal) [bl-eye-bst]

er/sie/es/man bleibt – he/she/it/one stays [bl-eye-bt]

ihr bleibt – you stay (plural informal) [bl-eye-bt]

wir bleiben – we stay [bl-eye-bun]

Sie bleiben – you stay (formal singular/plural) [bl-eye-bun]

sie bleiben – they stay [bl-eye-bun]

gehen – to go (present tense)

ich gehe – I go [gay-uh]
du gehst – you go (informal singular) [gay-st]

er/sie/es/man geht – he/she/it/one goes [gate]
ihr geht – you go (informal plural) [gate]

wir gehen – we go [gay-en]

Sie gehen – you go (formal singular/plural) [gay-en]

sie gehen – they go [gay-en]

werden – to become (present tense)

ich werde – I become [v-air-duh]

du wirst – you become (informal singular) [veer-st]

er/sie/es/man wird – he/she/it/one becomes [veert]

ihr werdet – you become (informal plural) [verdut]

wir werden – we become [verdun]

Sie werden – you become (formal singular/plural) [verdun]

sie werden – they become [verdun]

stehen – to stay (present tense)

ich stehe – I stay [shtay-uh]

du stehst – you stay (informal singular) [shtay-st]

er/sie/es/man steht – he/she/it/one stays [sht-ate]

ihr steht – you stay (informal plural) [sht-ate]

wir stehen – we stay [shtay-en]

Sie stehen – you stay (formal singular/plural) [shtay-en]

sie stehen – they stay [shtay-en]

(#1).(#2)

LANGUAGE THROUGH SONG - MIKA

For a full run-through of the song's vocabulary, I've set up a lesson on memrise:

you can get a basic account for free, and more lessons will be going up in the future!

For those of you not interested in having your language tools dictated to you, there are a few useful phrases and grammar points below.  If there are any other points you'd like clarification on, please do leave a comment!

VOCABULARY

elle dit = she says
elle me dit = she says to me

être fier = to be proud

danse! = dance! (singular, imperative)

c'est quoi ton problème = what is your problem?

c'est ta vie = it's your life

fais ce que tu veux! = do what you want! (singular, imperative)

nul = rubbish

pourquoi? = why?

ça (ne) va pas bien = I'm/it's not well

j'aime = I like

un truc = a thing

GRAMMAR

ADJECTIVES:

Adjective Placement

“une chanson contente ...

une chanson déprimante”

Unlike in English, French adjectives usually follow the noun they describe.

There are instances where adjectives precede nouns, and there are rules for these, but they are extremely loose and exceptions are numerous.

Happily, though, the placement of the adjective depends on the adjective itself, so if you see an adjective following a noun, it is an adjective that will always follow its noun. The same applies for noun-preceeding adjectives.

So content and déprimant are two to add to your “noun-following adjectives” list

Adjective Agreement

“une chanson contente ...

une chanson déprimante”

French nouns have genders, and French grammar is often called upon to represent this – so adjectives have to agree in gender with their noun.

The same applies for plural nouns.

In most cases this just means adding an ending to the default form (the singular, masculine form) of the adjective.

For feminine nouns, add an “e”

For plural nouns, add an “s”

For feminine plural nouns, add both (“es”)

The “une” before “chanson” indicates that this is a feminine noun, so we add an “e” in this instance to our adjectives: contente, déprimante

More agreement – "tout"

"une chanson que tout le monde aime".

This segment follows on nicely from adjective agreement.

The word “tout”, meaning all/everything, also needs to convey gender and number.

In the given example “tout le monde”, we are talking, figuratively, about everyone in the world.

The “le” in “le monde” shows us that this is a masculine, singular noun, so we use the “tout” form.

Here are the other forms:

tout – masculine singular

tous – masculine plural

toute – feminine singular

toutes – feminine plural