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Part of the song 'L'Amour' by LiQWYD involves a woman saying a few phrases in French. Despite having a (very) rudimentary knowledge of French, and being armed with Google translate, I've been unable to make sense of what she's saying.

Here's my best attempt at a transcription. (She says these phrases at the beginning of the song and, as far as I can tell, repeats the same phrases exactly later on.)

Qu'est-ce que je veux tu lomber?
Je vais te lomber.
L'amour, l'amour.
À la raison? L'amour et moi.
Nous sommes un. Nous sommes un.

The word lomber does not appear in any French dictionary I can get my hands on, but neither can I find anything which sounds like lomber that would fit. In any case, this is my attempt at translating the above into English:

What do I want I want you to tell [me]?
I'm going to tell you.
Love, love.
Why? Love and myself.
We are one. We are one.

What is this word which I'm hearing as lomber? What is she actually saying?

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  • 2
    This sounds like French words put there to sound sophisticated. While all words are existing, all of them together don't make much sense, it sounds like a bad online translation...
    – Laurent S.
    Nov 12, 2020 at 8:34
  • @LaurentS. The lyric's author isn't a native French speaker.
    – jlliagre
    Nov 12, 2020 at 10:38

2 Answers 2

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The word is "nommer" (to call, to give a name). There are two other words to change.

Qu'est-ce que je vais te nommer?
Je vais te nommer
L'amour, l'amour
À la raison. L'amour et moi
Nous sommes un, nous sommes un.

Addition (I had forgotten about that translation)

The translation icludes something that' ll be difficult to render (L'amour à la raison). Why this is so is the fact that the author is making up a phrase on the model of a know phrase, that phrase being "l'amour à la folie" (love to madness). However, it is difficult to make out what that author has in mind. Is it love to the point of being endowed by reason (as love to the point of being crazy about someone)? Could it be that "à" is wrong and that instaed the verb "avoir" is right (l'amour a la raison) which is simpler, although not clear ("l'amour est la raison" is clear, though; but the sound is that of a, not "est".).

What am I going to call you?
I'm going to call you
Love,
?
We are one, we are one

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  • Thank you. Could you clarify the sense of 'À la raison. L'amour et moi'? Is she saying: 'The reason [I'm going to name you love] is: love and myself'? Are we sure that she isn't saying: 'L'amour est moi'?
    – Tom Hosker
    Nov 11, 2020 at 20:37
  • @TomHosker I think this is "l'amour et moi"; "l'amour est moi" seems not right, although I don't think that in order to say that, someone has to have an ego blown out of proportion, there can be other motivations. However, thinking about it, saying that someone and love are but one and the same thing (nous sommes un) amounts to saying that this person is love. It's all a bit crazy.
    – LPH
    Nov 11, 2020 at 20:52
  • "What am I going to name you"
    – jlliagre
    Nov 11, 2020 at 22:13
  • @jlliagre "To call" is also used for "to give a name". They called the kitten Tiger. (to give sth/sb a particular name, OALD).
    – LPH
    Nov 11, 2020 at 22:22
  • I know, but that's not what it means in French.
    – jlliagre
    Nov 11, 2020 at 23:26
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The song wording is weird, especially the first verse:

Qu'est-ce que je vais te nommer ?

It looks like a calque of the English:

What am I going to call/name you?

but that doesn't work that way in French. The actual translation would be more like:

What name am I going to mention you?

Assuming the intended meaning is "what am I going to call you?", we'd rather say:

Comment vais-je t'appeler ? or Comment est-ce que je vais t'appeler ?

The author, Zara Taylor, doesn't seem to be a French native person so that would explain the odd expressions, another one being sans logique à la raison which is hard to parse (without logic to the reason?)

The full text has more words that what is used in the song. Here it is from Taylor's web site (in bold the extra parts):

Qu'est-ce que je vais te nommer?
Je vais te nommer l'amour
L'amour tendre
L'amour qui chante doucement dans mon cœur
L'amour qui danse lentement dans mon cœur
Sans logique
à la raison
L'amour et moi
Nous sommes un
Nous sommes un

Here is how it might be rephrased to make it more idiomatic:

Comment vais-je t'appeler?
Je vais t'appeler
l'amour
L'amour tendre
L'amour qui chante doucement dans mon cœur
L'amour qui danse lentement dans mon cœur
Sans logique et sans raison
L'amour et moi
Nous ne faisons qu'un
Nous ne faisons qu'un

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