Formidable in English
Lyrics reviewed and translated by Stromae & John Elkhoury
COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
Formidable, formidable
Wonderful, wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Formidable
Wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Eh bébé, oups : mademoiselle
Hey baby, oops : miss
Je veux pas vous draguer, promis, juré
I don’t want to hit on you, I promise, I swear
Je suis célibataire, depuis hier, putain !
I am single, since yesterday, fuck!
Je peux pas faire d’enfant, et bon c’est pas… eh revient !
I can’t have a kid, and well it’s not… hey come back!
5 minutes quoi je t’ai pas insulté, je suis poli, courtois
5 minutes, what? I didn’t insult you, I’m polite, courteous
Et un peu fort bourré, mais pour les mecs comme moi
And a bit hammered, but for the guys like me
Vous avez autre chose à faire, vous m’auriez vu hier
You have other things to do, you should have seen me yesterday
Où j’étais…
Where I was…
Formidable, formidable
Wonderful, wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Formidable
Wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Eh tu t’es regardé, tu te crois beau
Oh look at you, you think you’re handsome
Parce que tu t’es marié,
Because you’re married,
Mais c’est qu’un anneau mec, t’emballe pas,
But it’s only a ring man, don’t get carried away
Elle va te larguer comme elles le font chaque fois
She’s going to dump you like they always do
Et puis l’autre fille tu lui en as parlé ?
And then that other girl, did you mention her?
Si tu veux je lui dis comme ça c’est réglé
If you want, I can tell your wife and then that’s that
Et au petit aussi, enfin si vous en avez
And then to the kid, actually if you have any
Attends 3 ans, 7 ans et là vous verrez
Wait 3 years, 7 years and then you’ll see
Si c’est…
If it’s still….
Formidable, formidable
Wonderful, wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Formidable
Wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Eh petite ! oh pardon : petit !
Hey little girl ! Oh sorry: little boy !
Tu sais dans la vie y a ni méchant ni gentil
You know in life there is no good or bad guy
Si maman est chiante c’est qu’elle a peur d’être mamie
If mommy is a pain it’s because she’s afraid of being a granny
Si papa trompe maman c’est parce que maman vieillit, tiens !
If daddy cheats on mommy it’s because mommy is aging, hey!
Pourquoi t’es tout rouge ? Bah reviens gamin
Why are you all red? Hey come back here kid
Et qu’est-ce que vous avez tous à me regarder comme un singe, vous
And what’s wrong with you all, looking at me like a monkey
Ah oui vous êtes saint vous
Ah right you’re all saints
Bande de macaques !
Bunch of monkeys !
Donnez-moi un bébé singe, il sera…
Give me a baby monkey, he’ll be…
Formidable, formidable
Wonderful, wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Formidable
Wonderful
Tu étais formidable, j’étais fort minable
You were wonderful, I was pathetic
Nous étions formidables
We were wonderful together
Listen to more translated Stromae songs!
Stromae – Papaoutai
Stromae – Quand C’est / Cancer
Stromae – Alors on Danse
To check out all of our translated French songs, click here.
For “Et un peu fort bourré” the english translation is not “And a bit hammer”, it is close but it translates to “And a bit hammered” hammered as in drunk. If you watch his music video you can see when the cops go up to him and ask him if he’s drunk.
English is my native language, I understand what “hammered” means. You did, however, find a typo. Good catch!
Thanks for the friend who told me to listen to this to practice my French speaking, big help! Love the song!
I am just loving this! Thank you so much! You have done such an amazing work man! I am trting to learn French and this will really help! ❤
I thought this was a song from a man to his boyfriend who married a woman in order to have children
woah I’ve known this so for so long and I just came around to looking for a translation- I knew that this was going to be a powerful and emotional song but the lyrics are so amazing
Been listening to this on repeat since it was mentioned on reddit..
Now I understand the lyrics…
Super Yemi !
That’s what I was trying to accomplish with these translations. Thanks for the comment :)
John
Thanks. I would like to find an entry-level French email penpal. I love Stromae. Awesome singer
Are you still looking for a pen pal? :)
nice website
I cannot fix this at the moment because I do not have computer access, thanks though for the edits. The thing is the French comes from a paroles site and I did not transcribe it myself.
“Eh revienS !”
“Je t’ai pas insultéE”
“T’emballeS pas”
“Vous êtes saintS”