I'm trying to translate the lyric: "I don't have anything to smile about."
Does
Je n'en ai rien pour sourire
or
Je n'ai rien pour en sourire
sound okay to you? Or would a different translation be better?
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Sign up to join this communityI'm trying to translate the lyric: "I don't have anything to smile about."
Does
Je n'en ai rien pour sourire
or
Je n'ai rien pour en sourire
sound okay to you? Or would a different translation be better?
Some context would be helpful. Deepl is of handy here:
Je n'ai aucune raison de sourire.
Je n'ai pas de quoi sourire. (already mentioned by @petitrien)
There is also the song Je n'ai pas le Cœur à Sourire of Daniel Guichard
Je n'ai pas le cœur à sourire
(already mentioned by @MercrediAndThenJedi)
Besides, in this link
https://genius.com/Genius-traductions-francaises-halsey-nightmare-traduction-francaise-lyrics
one reads the original lyrics of the song Nightmare by Halsey along the French translation. So
No, I ain't got nothin' to smile about.
Non, je n'ai pas de quoi sourire.
Here is the Pre-chorus
"Come on, little lady, give us a smile" - "Allez, petite fille, fais-nous un sourire"
No, I ain't got nothin' to smile about - Non, je n'ai pas de quoi sourire
I got no one to smile for, I waited a while for -Je n'ai personne à qui sourire, j'ai attendu un certain temps pour
A moment to say I don't owe you a goddamn thing - Un moment pour dire que je ne te dois rien
In this case, I'd rather say:
- Je n'ai pas le coeur à (sou)rire
- Je n'ai pas le coeur à en (sou)rire
Neither translation is working. en for some reason doesn't work here as a pronoun for the object of sourire and rien is problematic too. I think you'd have to say :
Je n'ai pas de quoi sourire
Maybe just:
Plus rien ne me fait sourire.
The two translations are grammatical French but they do not correspond to the context and the contexts that justify them are so far fetched that those sentences will never occur in the language (ngram).
There are several possibilities of translation; I think there'll be yet others besides those listed below;
Two idiomatic phrases that may suit your purpose:
Il n'y a (vraiment) pas de quoi sourire.
Il n'y a (vraiment) pas de quoi rire.
This usually applies to a specific situation.
This phrase was used as title of a book, which is a collection of sketches by Raymond Devos.
Je ne trouve pas ça [drôle / rigolo / marrant] (du tout).
Cela ne me fait pas (vraiment) [rire / rigoler] (du tout).
C'est pas [drôle / rigolo / marrant] (du tout)!