Viens on essaie – Bilingual Lyrics French/English

• By: Vitaa, Julien Doré
• Album: Charlotte

Lyrics & Translation

[French]

[English]

J'fais mon numéro

I'm putting on a show

D'habitude j'me prends pas la tête

Usually I don't overthink it

Là c'est foutu d'avance

This is doomed from the start

On arrête, on commence

We stop, we start

Je sais plus c'que j'fais

I don't know what I'm doing anymore

Ça va finir par me plaire

I'll end up liking it

Si toi et moi on s'fait la guerre

If you and I fight

Je vais finir par le faire

I'm going to end up doing it

M'mêler de tes affaires

Getting involved in your business

Oublie le tête-à-tête

Forget the one-on-one

Si je t'embête, ça serait chouette ou pas

If I annoy you, would that be great or not?

Viens, on essaie, on essaie, ouais

Come on, let's try, let's try, yeah

À quoi bon se cacher ?

What's the point of hiding?

Tout se sait, tout se sait, ouais

Everything is known, everything is known, yeah

Quand on s'dit tout, y'a plus d'effet, plus d'effet, non

When we tell each other everything, there's no more effect, no more effect, no

Je te l'dirai à demi-mot

I'll tell you subtly

Des mots et des mots

Words and words

Toi tu veux m'abîmer la tête

You want to mess with my head

Tu veux jouer, on commence

You want to play, we start

Mais les dés, je les lance

But I'm rolling the dice

Je crois que tu m'plais

I think I like you

Ça va finir par me plaire

I'll end up liking it

Si toi et moi on s'fait la guerre

If you and I fight

Je vais finir par le faire

I'm going to end up doing it

M'mêler de tes affaires

Getting involved in your business

Oublie le tête-à-tête

Forget the one-on-one

Si je t'embête, ça serait chouette ou pas

If I annoy you, would that be great or not?

Viens, on essaie, on essaie, ouais

Come on, let's try, let's try, yeah

À quoi bon se cacher ?

What's the point of hiding?

Tout se sait, tout se sait, ouais

Everything is known, everything is known, yeah

Quand on s'dit tout, y'a plus d'effet, plus d'effet, non

When we tell each other everything, there's no more effect, no more effect, no

Je te l'dirai à demi-mot

I'll tell you subtly

Viens, on essaie, on essaie, ouais

Come on, let's try, let's try, yeah

À quoi bon se cacher ?

What's the point of hiding?

Tout se sait, tout se sait, ouais

Everything is known, everything is known, yeah

Quand on s'dit tout, y'a plus d'effet, plus d'effet, non

When we tell each other everything, there's no more effect, no more effect, no

Je te l'dirai à demi-mot

I'll tell you subtly

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
commencer /kɔ.mɑ̃.se/ A1	verb - to begin, to start
finir /fi.niʁ/ A1	verb - to finish, to end
plaire /plɛʁ/ A2	verb - to please, to like (often used impersonally or with an indirect object)
guerre /ɡɛʁ/ A2	noun - war; (figuratively) conflict, argument, fight
mêler /mɛ.le/ B1	verb - to mix, to blend; (pronominal 'se mêler de') to meddle in, to get involved in
affaires /a.fɛʁ/ A2	noun - things, belongings (often plural); business, matters
oublier /u.bli.je/ A1	verb - to forget
tête-à-tête /tɛ.ta.tɛt/ B1	noun - private conversation, one-on-one meeting adverb - in private, face to face
embêter /ɑ̃.be.te/ A2	verb - to bother, to annoy, to trouble
chouette /ʃwɛt/ A2	adjective - (informal) nice, great, cool noun - owl
essayer /e.sɛ.je/ A1	verb - to try, to attempt
cacher /ka.ʃe/ A2	verb - to hide, to conceal; (pronominal 'se cacher') to hide oneself
effet /e.fɛ/ A2	noun - effect, result, impact
demi-mot /də.mi.mo/ B2	noun - half-word; (often in the idiom 'à demi-mot') implicitly, indirectly
abîmer /a.bi.me/ B1	verb - to damage, to spoil; (pronominal 's'abîmer') to get damaged, to be spoiled
lancer /lɑ̃.se/ A2	verb - to throw, to launch; to start
dé /de/ B1	noun - dice (singular); thimble
habitude /a.bi.tyd/ A2	noun - habit, custom, routine
numéro /ny.me.ʁo/ B1	noun - number; (idiomatic 'faire son numéro') performance, act, show-off
foutu /fu.ty/ B1	adjective - (informal) doomed, ruined, lost; (colloquial) damn, darned

Key Grammar Structures

• D'habitude j'me prends pas la tête

  ➔ Pronominal Verb & Informal Negation

  ➔ The phrase "me prends pas la tête" uses the pronominal verb "se prendre la tête", meaning "to worry" or "to get stressed out". It's a common idiomatic expression. The "ne" of the negation "ne...pas" is omitted, which is very common in spoken French.

• Ça va finir par me plaire

  ➔ Futur Proche & "finir par"

  ➔ The structure "va finir par me plaire" combines the *futur proche* (aller + infinitive) with the expression "finir par + infinitive", meaning "to end up doing something". "Me" is an indirect object pronoun.

• Si toi et moi on s'fait la guerre

  ➔ Conditional Clause (Si + Present) & Stressed Pronouns

  ➔ This is a conditional clause (Type 1: "Si" + present, future/present/imperative). "Toi et moi" are stressed pronouns, used for emphasis or when combined with other subjects. "On" is used informally instead of "nous". "Se faire la guerre" is a pronominal verb meaning "to fight each other".

• Oublie le tête-à-tête

  ➔ Imperative Mood (Tu form)

  ➔ "Oublie" is the imperative form of the verb "oublier" (to forget), conjugated for "tu" (you, singular informal). The "s" at the end of regular -er verbs in the "tu" imperative form is omitted.

• À quoi bon se cacher ?

  ➔ Idiomatic Interrogative Expression

  ➔ "À quoi bon" is an idiomatic interrogative phrase meaning "What's the use of...?" or "What's the point of...?". It's always followed by an infinitive, in this case, the pronominal verb "se cacher" (to hide oneself).

• Tout se sait

  ➔ Pronominal Passive (or Reflexive Passive)

  ➔ "Se sait" is an example of the pronominal passive (also known as the reflexive passive). It indicates that the action is performed on the subject, or that something becomes known, without specifying an agent. It translates to "everything is known" or "everything becomes known."

• Quand on s'dit tout, y'a plus d'effet

  ➔ Temporal Clause, Informal "il y a", & Negative "ne...plus"

  ➔ This sentence contains a temporal clause introduced by "Quand" (when). "On s'dit tout" uses the informal "on" and the pronominal verb "se dire" (to tell each other). "Y'a" is the informal contraction of "il y a" (there is/are). "Plus d'effet" uses the negative expression "ne...plus" (no more/no longer), with "ne" omitted.

• Je te l'dirai à demi-mot

  ➔ Double Object Pronouns & Future Simple

  ➔ "Te l'dirai" demonstrates the use of double object pronouns ("te" for indirect object, "le" for direct object) before the verb, and the future simple tense ("dirai" from "dire"). The order of object pronouns is indirect (me, te, nous, vous) followed by direct (le, la, les).

• Toi tu veux m'abîmer la tête

  ➔ Stressed Pronoun for Emphasis & Pronominal Verb Usage

  ➔ "Toi tu" uses a stressed pronoun ("Toi") to emphasize the subject "tu". "M'abîmer la tête" is derived from the pronominal verb "s'abîmer la tête" (to hurt one's head/to get worked up), but here "m'" acts as a direct object pronoun (abîmer ma tête, which means to hurt my head/mind).