Quand je t'aime – Bilingual Lyrics French/English

• By: Demis Roussos
• Album: Le Grec

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the passionate world of Demis Roussos' "Quand je t'aime." This timeless French ballad offers a beautiful glimpse into declarations of love, allowing listeners to immerse themselves in romantic French expressions and understand the depth of emotion conveyed through its lyrics. It's a song that celebrates love's power to make one feel like royalty.

[English]

When I love you

I feel like a king

A knight from long ago

The only man on Earth

When I love you

I feel like I belong to you

Like the river to the Delta

A willing prisoner

When I love you

All my gestures bring me back

To your lips or to your arms

To making love with you

When I love you

It's midnight or noon

In hell, in paradise

Anywhere, but together

When I love you

I no longer know if I am

A beggar or a messiah

But our dreams are alike

When I love you

All my gestures bring me back

To your lips or to your arms

To making love with you

...

When I love you

I have flowers at my fingertips

And the sky that I owe you

Is a sky without stars

When I love you

I have fever in my blood

And this innocent pleasure

Scares me, hurts me

When I love you

All my gestures bring me back

To your lips or to your arms

To making love with you

When I love you

I feel like a king

A knight from long ago

The only man on Earth

When I love you

I feel like I belong to you

Like the river to the Delta

A willing prisoner

When I love you

It's midnight or noon

In hell, in paradise

Anywhere, but together

When I love you

I no longer know if I am

A beggar or a messiah

But our dreams are alike

When I love you

...

[French]

Quand je t'aime

J'ai l'impression d'être un roi

Un chevalier d'autrefois

Le seul homme sur la Terre

Quand je t'aime

J'ai l'impression d'être à toi

Comme la rivière au Delta

Prisonnier volontaire

Quand je t'aime

Tous mes gestes me ramènent

À tes lèvres ou à tes bras

À l'amour avec toi

Quand je t'aime

Il est minuit ou midi

En enfer, au paradis

N'importe où mais ensemble

Quand je t'aime

Je ne sais plus si je suis

Un mendiant ou un messie

Mais nos rêves se ressemblent

Quand je t'aime

Tous mes gestes me ramènent

À tes lèvres ou à tes bras

À l'amour avec toi

Quand je t'aime

J'ai des fleurs au bout des doigts

Et le ciel que je te dois

Est un ciel sans étoiles

Quand je t'aime

J'ai la fièvre dans le sang

Et ce plaisir innocent

Me fait peur, me fait mal

Quand je t'aime

Tous mes gestes me ramènent

À tes lèvres ou à tes bras

À l'amour avec toi

Quand je t'aime

J'ai l'impression d'être un roi

Un chevalier d'autrefois

Le seul homme sur la terre

Quand je t'aime

J'ai l'impression d'être à toi

Comme la rivière au Delta

Prisonnier volontaire

Quand je t'aime

Il est minuit ou midi

En enfer, au paradis

N'importe où mais ensemble

Quand je t'aime

Je ne sais plus si je suis

Un mendiant ou un messie

Mais nos rêves se ressemblent

Quand je t'aime

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
aimer /ɛme/ A1	verb - to love
roi /ʁwa/ A2	noun - king
chevalier /ʃəvalje/ B1	noun - knight
terre /tɛʁ/ A2	noun - earth, land
rêve /ʁɛv/ B1	noun - dream
fleur /flœʁ/ A2	noun - flower
ciel /sjɛl/ A2	noun - sky
plaisir /plɛziʁ/ B1	noun - pleasure
mal /mal/ A2	noun - pain, harm
ensemble /ɑ̃sɑ̃bl/ A2	adverb - together
innocent /inɔsɑ̃/ B2	adjective - not guilty, harmless
prisonnier /pʁizɔnje/ B2	noun - prisoner
mendiant /mɑ̃dja/ B2	noun - beggar
messie /mesi/ C1	noun - messiah
impression /ɛ̃pʁesjɔ̃/ B1	noun - impression
gestes /ʒɛst/ B2	noun - gestures, actions

Key Grammar Structures

• Quand je t'aime

  ➔ Subjunctive Mood after 'quand' (potentially)

  ➔ While "quand" usually takes the indicative, in expressing general truths or habitual actions, the subjunctive *could* be used to emphasize doubt or conditionality. In this case, the indicative is used as it represents a recurring feeling.

• J'ai l'impression d'être un roi

  ➔ Expression "avoir l'impression de"

  ➔ "Avoir l'impression de" means "to have the impression of" or "to feel like". Followed by the infinitive "être".

• Comme la rivière au Delta

  ➔ Preposition 'comme' for comparison.

  ➔ "Comme" is used to make a comparison, meaning "like" or "as". Here, it's comparing the speaker's feeling of being owned to a river belonging to the delta.

• Prisonnier volontaire

  ➔ Adjective agreement (volontaire)

  ➔ Although "volontaire" is invariable in gender, it modifies "prisonnier" here, meaning it agrees in number (singular).

• Tous mes gestes me ramènent

  ➔ Reflexive verb 'se ramener'

  ➔ "Se ramener" means "to bring oneself back" or "to lead back". Here, it means "all my actions lead me back". The reflexive pronoun 'me' indicates the action is performed on the subject.

• À tes lèvres ou à tes bras

  ➔ Repetition of preposition 'à'

  ➔ The preposition "à" is repeated for each noun phrase (lèvres, bras) to ensure clarity and parallelism in the sentence structure. It indicates the destination or direction.

• N'importe où mais ensemble

  ➔ Adverbial phrase of place with conjunction

  ➔ "N'importe où" (anywhere) is an adverbial phrase of place, modified by "mais" (but) and followed by "ensemble" (together). This construction highlights the speaker's indifference to location as long as they are with their loved one.

• J'ai des fleurs au bout des doigts

  ➔ Idiomatic expression indicating a special talent or ability.

  ➔ The phrase "avoir des fleurs au bout des doigts" doesn't literally mean having flowers on one's fingertips. It's an idiom suggesting a special talent, luck, or ability to easily succeed at something. Here, it emphasizes the positive transformation the speaker experiences when in love.