Il Mondo – Bilingual Lyrics Italian/English

• By: Jimmy Fontana

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the poignant Italian ballad "Il Mondo" by Jimmy Fontana. Through its timeless melody and introspective lyrics, you can explore themes of love, loss, and the ceaseless passage of time, offering a beautiful gateway to understanding the emotional depth often found in Italian music.

[English]

No

Tonight, my love, I haven't thought of you anymore

I opened my eyes to look around

And all around me the world was spinning as always

It spins, the world spins through endless space

With love just born

With love already gone

With the joy and pain of people like me

A world

Only now I look at you

In your silence, I lose myself

And I am nothing next to you

The world

Never stops, not even for a moment

Night always chases day

And the day will come

Oh, world!

...

The world

Never stops, not even for a moment

Night always chases day

And the day will come

...

[Italian]

No

Stanotte amore non ho più pensato a te

Ho aperto gli occhi per guardare intorno a me

E intorno a me girava il mondo come sempre

Gira, il mondo gira nello spazio senza fine

Con gli amori appena nati

Con gli amori già finiti

Con la gioia e col dolore della gente come me

Un mondo

Soltanto adesso io ti guardo

Nel tuo silenzio io mi perdo

E sono niente accanto a te

Il mondo

Non si è fermato mai un momento

La notte insegue sempre il giorno

Ed il giorno verrà

Oh mondo!

Il mondo

Non si è fermato mai un momento

La notte insegue sempre il giorno

Ed il giorno verrà

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
amore /aˈmo.re/ A1	noun - love
mondo /ˈmon.do/ A1	noun - world
notte /ˈnɔt.te/ A1	noun - night
giorno /ˈdʒor.no/ A1	noun - day
silenzio /siˈlɛn.tsi.o/ B1	noun - silence
gioia /ˈdʒɔ.ja/ B1	noun - joy
dolore /doˈlo.re/ B1	noun - pain
fermare /ferˈma.re/ B1	verb - to stop
inseguire /in.seˈɡwi.re/ B2	verb - to chase
guardare /ɡwarˈda.re/ B2	verb - to watch
nato /ˈna.to/ B2	adjective - born
finito /fiˈni.to/ B2	adjective - finished
niente /ˈnjɛn.te/ B2	noun - nothing

Key Grammar Structures

• Stanotte amore non ho più pensato a te

  ➔ Negative 'più' with passato prossimo.

  ➔ The phrase "non ho più pensato" means 'I didn't think anymore'. 'Più' negates the action of thinking again. 'Ho pensato' is the 'passato prossimo' (past perfect tense) form of 'pensare' (to think).

• E intorno a me girava il mondo come sempre

  ➔ Imperfect tense (girava) to describe an ongoing action/state in the past.

  ➔ "Girava" is the imperfect tense of 'girare' (to turn). It describes the world's continuous rotation in the past, implying it was an ongoing, habitual, or background action.

• Con gli amori appena nati

  ➔ Use of 'appena' + past participle to indicate recently happened action.

  ➔ 'Appena nati' means 'just born' or 'newly born'. 'Appena' emphasizes the recency of the action ('nascere' - to be born).

• Soltanto adesso io ti guardo

  ➔ Adverb "soltanto" emphasizing time. Subject-verb inversion for emphasis (less common in modern Italian, more poetic).

  ➔ "Soltanto adesso" emphasizes that only *now* is the speaker looking at the person. The usual word order would be "Io ti guardo soltanto adesso". The inversion adds a dramatic effect.

• Nel tuo silenzio io mi perdo

  ➔ Reflexive verb "perdersi" (to get lost) used with a pronoun.

  ➔ "Mi perdo" means 'I get lost'. The 'mi' is the reflexive pronoun that indicates the subject (io) is also the object of the verb.

• Non si è fermato mai un momento

  ➔ Passato Prossimo with reflexive "si" and adverb "mai".

  ➔ "Non si è fermato mai" translates to "It has never stopped". "Si" indicates a reflexive or intransitive construction (in this case, intransitive). "Mai" means 'never' and reinforces the negative meaning.

• La notte insegue sempre il giorno

  ➔ Use of adverb "sempre" with present tense to express a general truth.

  ➔ "Insegue sempre" means 'always chases'. "Sempre" (always) emphasizes that this is a constant, unchanging occurrence.