Practice your Portuguese by listening to and translating songs from Portuguese to your native language. This song is called “Quem Me Dera“, by Mariza.
I’ve translated the song into English after the lyrics below. (the music video is not mine nor was it produced by me).
If you’re here from the 30-Day Free Portuguese Challenge for your daily goal, the task for today is to listen to the song a few times and try to follow along with the lyrics in Portuguese. At the end of the task, try to rate yourself and include the date. This is so you can later come back to this exercise and see how you have improved over time. Let’s jump in. (You don’t need to be a part of the challenge to do these suggested exercises 😉 )
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Tasks for the 30-Day Portuguese Challenge
- Beginners: Actively listen to how the words are being pronounced. Before looking at the translation, underline the words you know and circle the ones you don’t. Write the words you don’t know into a list on your paper and save them for later. The main goal is to listen to the sounds of the language and be introduced to new vocabulary. If you’d like to take a step further, now look up words in the online dictionary and make notes if they are used in other contexts.
- Intermediates: After listening and looking at the lyrics – BUT NOT the translation yet – analyse the words more closely. Write down a summary of what you think the song is about. Then compare that to the translation. Then separate the words into different categories such as which ones are verbs (actions), which ones are nouns (names of things and people or animals) and which ones are adjectives (descriptions). You can go a step further and indicate what tense the verbs are in. The main goal is to see how your comprehension is progressing and what you need to work more on.
- Advanced: After listening and looking at the Portuguese lyrics, your task is to translate the lyrics without any help. If you come across a word you’ve never seen, try an educated guess before looking it up in the dictionary. It doesn’t always have to make perfect sense. As I’m sure you know, sometimes artists will use a word or pronounce it uncommonly so it fits with the rhyme. Then compare it to the translation and see how you did. If you have the opportunity to go a little further, write a composition stating your opinion on the song. And that can be anything you like: the lyrics, the melody, the voice, the feelings, how you would change it if you didn’t like it, you name it. Try to include compound tenses and the subjunctive mood in your composition.
Quem Me Dera (“How I wish I could”) by Mariza
Que mais tem de acontecer no mundo
Para inverter o teu coração pra mim
Que quantidade de lágrimas devo deixar cair
Que Flor tem que nascer
para ganhar o teu amor
Por esse amor meu Deus
Eu faço tudo
Declamo os poemas mais lindos do universo
A ver se te convenço
Que a minha alma nasceu para ti
Será preciso um milagre
Para que o meu coração se alegre
Juro não vou desistir
Faça chuva faça sol
Porque eu preciso de ti para seguir
Quem me dera
Abraçar-te no outono verão e primavera
Quiçá viver além uma quimera
Herdar a sorte e ganhar teu coração
Será preciso uma tempestade
Para perceberes que o meu amor é de verdade
Te procuro nos outdoors da cidade, nas luzes dos faróis
Nos meros mortais como nós
O meu amor é puro é tão grande e resistente como embondeiro
Por ti eu vou onde nunca iria
Por ti eu sou o que nunca seria
Eu preciso de um milagre
Para que o meu coração se alegre
Juro não vou desistir
Faça chuva faça sol
Porque eu preciso de ti para viver
Quem me dera
Abraçar-te no outono verão e primavera
Quiçá viver além uma quimera
Herdar a sorte e ganhar teu coração
Translation
What else has to happen in the world
To turn your heart to me
How many tears must I let fall
What flower has to be born
To win your love
For this love my God
I’ll do anything
I’ll recite the most beautiful poems in the universe
To see if I can convince you
That my soul was born for you
It will take a miracle
For my heart to rejoice
I swear I won’t give up
Come rain or shine
Cause I need you to keep me going
How I wish I could
Hold you in my arms in autumn, summer and spring
Maybe live beyond a chimaera
To inherit your fortune and win your heart
It will take a storm
To realize that my love is real
I look for you on the city billboards, in the lights of the lighthouses
In mere mortals like us
My love is pure is as big and strong as a baobab
For you, I go where I would never go
For you, I am what I never would be
I need a miracle
For my heart to rejoice
I swear I won’t give up
Come rain or shine
Because I need you to live
How I wish I could
Hold you in my arms in autumn, summer and spring
Maybe living beyond a chimaera
To inherit your fortune and win your heart
For more songs in Portuguese click here. To learn more about the 30-Day Portuguese Challenge sign up below.