How Can You Mend A Broken Heart – English Lyrics

• By: Diana Krall
• Album: Quiet Nights

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the English language through the soulful sounds of Diana Krall's "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." Her clear and emotive delivery of the lyrics provides an excellent opportunity to learn vocabulary related to feelings of love, loss, and reflection. This jazz ballad's sophisticated phrasing and storytelling can deepen your understanding of emotional expression in English, making the learning process both beautiful and meaningful.

[English]

I can think of younger days when living for my life

Was everything a girl could want to do

I could never see tomorrow

I was never told about the sorrow

And how can you mend a broken heart?

How can you stop the rain from falling down?

How can you stop the sun from shining?

What makes the world go 'round?

And how can you mend a this broken man?

How can a loser ever win?

Please help me mend my broken heart

And let me live again

...

I can still feel the breeze that rustles through the trees

And misty memories of days gone by

We could never see tomorrow

No one said a word about the sorrow

And how can you mend a broken heart?

How can you stop the rain from falling down?

How can you stop the sun from shining?

What makes the world go 'round?

And how can you mend this broken man?

How can a loser ever win?

Please help me mend my broken heart

And let me live again

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
mend /mɛnd/ B1	verb - to repair something that is broken or damaged
heart /hɑːrt/ A2	noun - the organ that pumps blood through the body
rain /reɪn/ A2	noun - water falling from the sky in drops
sun /sʌn/ A2	noun - the star that provides light and heat to the Earth
world /wɜːrld/ A2	noun - the earth and all its countries and people
life /laɪf/ A2	noun - the existence of living beings
days /deɪz/ A2	noun - plural of day; periods of 24 hours
hope /hoʊp/ B1	noun - a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen
forgot /fərˈɡɒt/ B2	verb - to fail to remember
stop /stɑːp/ A2	verb - to cease an action or movement
falling /ˈfɔːlɪŋ/ B1	verb - to descend freely by the force of gravity
memories /ˈmɛməriz/ B2	noun - recollections of past experiences
help /hɛlp/ A2	verb - to assist or aid

Key Grammar Structures

• I can think of younger days when living for my life Was everything a girl could want to do

  ➔ Relative clause with "when"; Past Tense; Modal verb "could"

  ➔ "when" introduces a relative clause describing the time period. "could want" indicates a past ability or possibility. The whole sentence is in the past, referring to earlier times.

• I was never told about the sorrow

  ➔ Passive voice in the past simple tense.

  ➔ The subject "I" receives the action, rather than performs it. The structure is "was/were + past participle".

• How can you mend a broken heart?

  ➔ Modal verb "can" for ability; Interrogative sentence structure.

  ➔ "can" expresses the ability or possibility of mending a broken heart. The question is formed by inverting the subject and auxiliary verb.

• How can you stop the rain from falling down?

  ➔ Modal verb "can" for possibility; Preposition "from" indicating prevention.

  ➔ "can" questions the possibility. "from falling down" shows that stopping prevents the rain from falling.

• What makes the world go 'round?

  ➔ Causative verb "make"; Simple present tense for general truths.

  ➔ "make" is used in a causative sense, asking what forces the world to revolve. The use of the present simple indicates a universal and constant action.

• And how can you mend this broken man?

  ➔ Modal verb "can" for ability; demonstrative adjective "this"; adjective "broken"

  ➔ "can" expresses the possibility of mending the man. "this" specify which man we are talking about. "broken" describes the state of the man.

• How can a loser ever win?

  ➔ Modal verb "can" for possibility; Adverb "ever" for emphasis.

  ➔ "can" again expresses possibility. "ever" emphasizes the doubt or difficulty of a loser winning.

• Please help me mend my broken heart

  ➔ Imperative sentence (request/command); Possessive adjective "my"; adjective "broken"

  ➔ The sentence is a plea or request. "my" specifies whose heart, and "broken" is the state of the heart.