Para Qué Sufrir – Bilingual Lyrics Spanish/English

• By: Natalia Lafourcade
• Album: Hasta la Raíz

Lyrics & Translation

Explore the beauty of the Spanish language through 'Para Qué Sufrir.' This song is a perfect tool for language learners because of its clear, rhythmic enunciation and philosophical lyrics, which help you practice present-tense verbs and reflective, everyday vocabulary.

[English]

(NATALIA LAFOURCADE - WHY SUFFER)

(Music)

Why suffer if there's no need?

Why be cold if the world makes us feel at home?

Why let everything die?

If what was between you and me made everything look so beautiful

I never imagined I would get married without papers

I never imagined that after a while it would end without walls

The house we saw being born, the fish that said goodbye

The nights full of eating, recording those songs until dawn

Why suffer if there's no need?

Why throw away our letters and photographs?

Why forget that before all of our kisses?

We were like siblings, we were like friends with benefits

I never imagined I would get married without papers

I never knew how to make you happier, I swear to you

You had to find yourself, I had to save myself

We had to let it be, and I make up this song at sunset

We were masters of the night

Masters without knowing how we got lost

How we divided our ties without knowing why

We were masters of the night, we loved it well

We gave it everything, just as we lived it

We were crazy, unable to turn back

Crazy, unable to turn back

Why suffer if there's no need?

(Music)

Why suffer if there's no need?

(Music)

[Spanish]

(NATALIA LAFOURCADE PARA QUÉ SUFRIR)

(Música)

¿Para qué sufrir si no hace falta?

¿Para qué ser fríos si el mundo nos hace sentir en casa?

¿Para qué dejar que todo muera?

Si aquello entre tú y yo nos hizo ver tan bello todo

Nunca imaginé que me casaría sin papeles

Nunca imaginé que después de un tiempo acabaría sin paredes

La casa que vimos nacer, los peces que dijeron adiós

Las noches llenas de comer, grabando esas canciones hasta el amanecer

¿Para qué sufrir si no hace falta?

¿Para qué tirar nuestras cartas y fotografías?

¿Para qué olvidar que antes de todos nuestros besos?

Fuimos como hermanos, fuimos como amigos con derechos

Nunca imagine que me casaría sin papeles

Nunca supe cómo hacer que fueras más feliz, te lo juro

Tenías que buscarte tú, tenía que salvarme yo

Teníamos que dejarlo ser e invento esta canción en el atardecer

Dueños de la noche fuimos

Dueños sin saber cómo nos perdimos

Cómo dividimos lazos sin saber por qué

Dueños de la noche fuimos, la quisimos bien

Todo se lo dimos como lo vivimos

Fuimos locos sin poder volver

Locos sin poder volver

¿Para qué sufrir si no hace falta?

(Música)

¿Para qué sufrir si no hace falta?

(Música)

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
sufrir sufrir A2	verb - to suffer
fríos frios A1	adjective - cold
mundo mundo A1	noun - world
muera mwera A1	verb - to die
papeles papeles A1	noun - papers
amanecer amaneser B1	noun - dawn
fotografías fotografias A2	noun - photographs
olvidar olbidar A2	verb - to forget
besos besos A1	noun - kisses
hermanos ermanos A1	noun - siblings / brothers
salvarme salbarme B1	verb - to save oneself
atardecer atardeser B1	noun - dusk / sunset
dueños duenyos B1	noun - owners
lazos lasos B2	noun - bonds / ties
locos lokos A2	adjective - crazy

Key Grammar Structures

• ¿Para qué sufrir si no hace falta?

  ➔ Interrogative construction '¿Para qué...?'

  ➔ Use '¿Para qué...?' to ask about the purpose or reason for an action, here asking why one would suffer.

• Nunca imaginé que me casaría sin papeles

  ➔ Conditional tense (Potencial Simple)

  ➔ The verb 'casaría' uses the conditional to express a hypothetical situation in the past regarding the future.

• Nunca supe cómo hacer que fueras más feliz

  ➔ Subjunctive mood after 'hacer que'

  ➔ When using 'hacer que' to influence or cause someone else to do something, the following verb 'fueras' must be in the subjunctive.

• Tenías que buscarte tú, tenía que salvarme yo

  ➔ Periphrastic obligation 'Tener que + infinitive'

  ➔ The structure 'tenía que' + infinitive indicates a past obligation or necessity.

• Dueños de la noche fuimos

  ➔ Preterite tense of 'Ser' (Fuimos)

  ➔ 'Fuimos' is the first-person plural preterite form of 'ser', used here to describe a finished state in the past.

• Cómo dividimos lazos sin saber por qué

  ➔ Indirect interrogative clause 'Cómo...'

  ➔ The clause 'Cómo dividimos lazos' acts as the object of the reflection, representing an indirect question embedded in a sentence.

• Fuimos locos sin poder volver

  ➔ Negative construction 'sin + infinitive'

  ➔ Using 'sin' followed by the infinitive 'poder' creates a negative adverbial clause expressing lack of ability.

• Todo se lo dimos como lo vivimos

  ➔ Direct and Indirect object pronouns 'se lo'

  ➔ 'Se' (indirect, replacing 'le/les') and 'lo' (direct) are used together to replace the objects in the sentence.