Balada astral – Bilingual Lyrics Portuguese/English

• By: Miguel Araújo, Inês Viterbo

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the enchanting world of Portuguese music with 'Balada Astral' by Miguel Araújo and Inês Viterbo. This delightful song explores themes of destiny and chance encounters, offering a rich vocabulary related to cosmic events and everyday life. Dive in to learn poetic expressions and improve your language skills through its captivating melody and meaningful lyrics.

[English]

When God placed the world

And the sky to spin

Deep down

He knew that by that path

I would find you

My mother at the moment

When she accepted to dance

It was in the song

Of the stars conspiring

And of their cosmic wandering

They sent your father

To smile at your mother

So that you

Would exist too

It was a beautiful day

And at that time, I too

The infinite

Still remembered well

Its cosmic hostage

And I who thought

I was just going to buy bread

And you who thought

You were just taking the dog for a walk

Safe from the conspiracy

We crossed paths

We stumbled upon each other's gaze

And the bread that day

Remained unbought

...

The dog leashes got tangled

The stars, the signs

The destinies, the constellations

The stars, the paths

And the clutter of the two

...

[Portuguese]

Quando Deus pôs o mundo

E o céu a girar

Bem lá no fundo

Sabia que por aquele andar

Eu te havia de encontrar

Minha mãe no segundo

Em que aceitou dançar

Foi na cantiga

Dos astros a conspirar

E do seu cósmico vagar

Mandaram teu pai

Sorrir para a tua mãe

Para que tu

Existisses também

Era um dia bonito

E na altura eu também

O infinito

Ainda se lembrava bem

Do seu cósmico refém

E eu que pensava

Que ia só comprar pão

E tu que pensavas

Que ias só passear o cão

A salvo da conspiração

Cruzámos caminhos

Tropeçámos no olhar

E o pão nesse dia

Ficou por comprar

Ensarilharam-se as trelas dos cães

Os astros, os signos

Os desígnios, as constelações

As estrelas, os trilhos

E as tralhas dos dois

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
Deus /deus/ A1	noun - God
mundo /ˈmũdu/ A1	noun - world
céu /sɛu/ A1	noun - sky
caminhos /kaˈmiɲuʃ/ A2	noun - paths
encontrar /ẽkõˈtɾaʁ/ A2	verb - to find
dançar /dɐ̃ˈsaʁ/ A2	verb - to dance
bonito /boˈnitu/ A2	adjective - beautiful
infinito /ĩfiˈnitu/ B1	adjective - infinite
conspiração /kõspiɾaˈsɐ̃w/ B2	noun - conspiracy
cão /kɐ̃w/ A2	noun - dog
olhar /oˈʎaʁ/ B1	verb - to look
estrela /esˈtɾelɐ/ A1	noun - star
signos /ˈsiɡnus/ B2	noun - signs
constelações /kõstelaˈsɐ̃w̃s/ B2	noun - constellations
vagar /vaˈɡaʁ/ B1	verb - to wander

Key Grammar Structures

• Quando Deus pôs o mundo

  ➔ Preposition 'Quando' + indicative past tense 'pôs'

  ➔ 'Quando' is a conjunction meaning 'when', used to introduce a temporal clause with the verb in past tense.

• E o céu a girar

  ➔ Use of the definite article 'o' + noun 'céu' + infinitive 'a girar'

  ➔ The structure indicates a noun phrase with the definite article and an infinitive verb acting as a descriptive action.

• Sabia que por aquele andar

  ➔ Imperfect subjunctive 'Sabia' + conjunction 'que' + preposition 'por' + demonstrative 'aquele' + noun 'andar'

  ➔ 'Sabia' is the imperfect subjunctive of 'saber', expressing past knowledge or belief, with a subordinate clause introduced by 'que'.

• Foi na cantiga

  ➔ Preposition 'na' + noun 'cantiga' + past tense 'Foi'

  ➔ 'Na' is a contraction of 'em a', meaning 'in the', used with feminine nouns like 'cantiga' (song). 'Foi' is the past tense of 'ser' or 'ir'.

• Foi na cantiga

  ➔ Preposition 'na' + noun 'cantiga' + past tense 'Foi'

  ➔ As before, it combines the preposition and noun to indicate the location or context where the action happened, with 'Foi' indicating past tense.