Niên Tuế – Bilingual Lyrics Vietnamese/English

• By: Mao Buyi (毛不易)
• Album: Ancient Love Poetry OST (Thiên Cổ Quyết Trần OST)

Lyrics & Translation

Explore the depth of Mandarin Chinese through Mao Buyi's 'Niên Tuế,' a song rich in reflective poetry about the relentless march of time. By immersing yourself in its melodic contemplation of age and experience, you can learn vocabulary related to introspection, memory, and the beautiful melancholy of looking back on 'years' passed.

[English]

Sunrise and sunset, summer cicadas, winter snow—everlasting existence.

Don’t fear fate; after countless twists and turns, it will come again.

Rain spreads out, blurring into a sea.

Memories are like evergreen moss.

Unfading longing across countless days and nights, unchanged.

Watching how many springs and autumns pass, guarding the years.

In sorrow, an endless cycle that never leaves.

A distant existence, love like a bright moon illuminating mountains and seas.

Spend a lifetime writing the wait.

How many times we hope the migratory birds return, keeping watch over the years.

Gazing toward the distant horizon, never regretting; who has never been replaced?

May there be a day when I awaken and the tangled past is untangled.

My heart will eventually confess to you.

Countless flowers along the path have wilted and bloomed again.

Perhaps scattered, a foreshadowing of the future that will eventually circulate.

Tears turn into clouds.

Raindrops fall into the sea of the heart.

Waiting for the clouds to clear, the sky becoming a single shade of blue, painting the future.

With you, leisurely beyond the world, love has endured for ages.

[Vietnamese]

日升月落 夏蝉冬雪更迭存在

别怕命运 百转千回 终会重来

雨漫漶成海

回忆长青苔

思念无埃 万千朝夕 里无改

看多少个春秋来回 守着年岁

悲伤中不停轮回 也不曾离开

遥远的存在 爱若明月照山海

用一生 书写等待

盼多少次候鸟迁回 守着年岁

望断天涯终不悔 谁不曾替代

愿有天醒来 往事前尘被解开

心终将 为你坦白

多少沿途 看过的花 败了又开

也许离散 伏笔未来 终会流转

泪化作云彩

雨滴落心海

等到云开 天青一色 染将来

与你悠然世外 爱已过千载

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
日 rì A1	noun - day; sun
月 yuè A1	noun - moon; month
雪 xuě A1	noun - snow
蝉 chán A2	noun - cicada
更迭 gēngdié B2	verb - to alternate; to succeed each other noun - succession; alternation
存在 cúnzài B1	verb - to exist noun - existence; being
命运 mìngyùn B1	noun - fate; destiny
重来 chónglái B2	verb - to happen again; to return
回忆 huíyì B1	noun - memory; recollection verb - to recall; to reminisce
思念 sīniàn B2	verb - to miss; to long for noun - longing; yearning
悲伤 bēishāng B1	adjective - sad; sorrowful noun - sadness
轮回 lúnhuí B2	noun - reincarnation; cycle of rebirth
明月 míngyuè B2	noun - bright moon
山海 shānhǎi B2	noun - mountains and seas
一生 yīshēng B1	noun - whole life; one's lifetime
书写 shūxiě B2	verb - to write; to transcribe
候鸟 hòuniǎo C1	noun - migratory bird
天涯 tiānyá B2	noun - horizon; faraway place
未来 wèilái B1	noun - future
泪 lèi A1	noun - tears

Key Grammar Structures

• 日升月落 夏蝉冬雪更迭存在

  ➔ Subject-verb-object structure with idiomatic phrase

  ➔ The line uses a poetic structure where "日升月落 夏蝉冬雪" describes contrasting elements (sunrise/sunset, summer cicadas/winter snow) and "更迭存在" means alternating presence, emphasizing cyclical existence. Highlighting "" shows the verb phrase.

• 别怕命运 百转千回 终会重来

  ➔ Imperative sentence with adverbials and future certainty

  ➔ This line has an imperative "别怕命运" meaning 'don't fear fate', followed by adverbials "百转千回" (many twists) and "终会重来" (will ultimately return), expressing hope. "" highlights the imperative verb.

• 回忆长青苔

  ➔ Subject-verb-object with metaphorical extension

  ➔ Here, "回忆" (memories) is the subject, likened to "青苔" (moss), using "长" (grow) as a verb for 'turning into', creating a metaphor for enduring memories. "" highlights the durative aspect.

• 思念无埃 万千朝夕 里无改

  ➔ Inverted structure with particle emphasis

  ➔ "思念无埃" places "无埃" after the noun, meaning 'thoughts without dust', using "里无改" with particle "里" to mean 'unchanged within'. "" highlights the particle for location.

• 看多少个春秋来回 守着年岁

  ➔ Rhetorical question formation and preposition usage

  ➔ "多少个" indicates 'how many', forming a rhetorical question about time passing, with "守着" as a preposition meaning 'guarding' the years. "" highlights the preposition structure.

• 悲伤中不停轮回 也不曾离开

  ➔ Adverbial clause with negation and parallelism

  ➔ "悲伤中" means 'in sadness', with "不停轮回" (unceasingly reincarnation), and "也不曾离开" (never leave), using negation "不" and "也不" for emphasis. "" highlights the negative adverbs.

• 用一生 书写等待

  ➔ Prepositional phrase with verb-object structure

  ➔ "用一生" is a prepositional phrase meaning 'using a lifetime', modifying "书写等待" (write waiting), emphasizing enduring action. "" highlights the prep phrase.

• 盼多少次候鸟迁回 守着年岁

  ➔ Nested question in subject position

  ➔ "盼多少次" means 'hope how many times', embedding a question as subject to "候鸟迁回" (birds migrate back), paralleling "守着年岁". "" highlights the question marker.

• 愿有天醒来 往事前尘被解开

  ➔ Passive voice with wish expression

  ➔ "愿" expresses a wish, "有天醒来" (one day wake up), and "被解开" is passive for 'be unraveled' on "往事前尘" (past matters). "" highlights passive marker.

• 多少沿途 看过的花 败了又开

  ➔ Relative clause insertion

  ➔ "看过的" is a relative clause modifying "花" (flowers seen along the way), with repeated action "败了又开" (fade then bloom again). "" highlights the relative pronoun.

• 等到云开 天青一色 染将来

  ➔ Causal or conditional adverbial with adverb modification

  ➔ "等到" means 'wait until', introducing a condition for "云开" (clouds clear), leading to a result with adverbs. "" highlights the conditional adverbial.