“Love Story” is one of Indila’s most popular songs, released in 2014 on her album Mini World. In this lesson, you’ll explore the French lyrics with English translation and learn useful vocabulary and grammar while enjoying this modern classic.
Love Story – Song synopsis
Indila’s Love Story follows two lovers separated by time and circumstance, told through alternating voices of the man and woman. The video opens with an elderly man placing a rose on his lost love’s grave, reflecting on their past.
Flashbacks show a young couple in World War II–era clothing saying a final goodbye at a port, with the woman singing of regret: Arrête, comme je regrette (“Stop, how I regret”).
Listen to Love Story
Indila Love Story French Lyrics & English Translation
L’âme en peine
Lost soul
Il vit mais parle à peine
He lives but barely speaks
Il attend devant cette photo d’antan
He waits in front of this picture from years ago
Il, il n’est pas fou
He’s not crazy
Il y croit c’est tout
He believes in it, that’s all
Il la voit partout
He sees her everywhere
Il l’attend debout
He waits for her standing
Une rose à la main
With a rose in his hand
À part elle il n’attend rien
Besides her, he’s not waiting for anything
Rien autour n’a de sens
Nothing around him makes any sense
Et l’air est lourd
The air is very heavy
Le regard absent
An absent expression
Il est seul et lui parle souvent
He’s alone and speaks to her often
Il, il n’est pas fou
He’s not crazy
Il l’aime c’est tout
He loves her, that’s all
Il la voit partout
He sees her everywhere
Il l’attend debout
He waits for her standing up
Debout une rose à la main
With a rose in his hand
Non, non plus rien ne le retient
No, nothing else is holding him back
Dans sa love story (3x)
In his love story
Sa love story
His love story
Prends ma main
Take my hand
Promets-moi que tout ira bien
Promise me everything will be okay
Serre-moi fort
Hold me tight
Près de toi, je rêve encore
Near you, I still dream
Oui, oui je veux rester
Yes, yes I want to stay
Mais je ne sais plus aimer
But I don’t know how to love anymore
J’ai été trop bête
I was too stupid
Je t’en prie, arrête
Please, stop
Arrête, comme je regrette
Stop, as I’m sorry
Non, je ne voulais pas tout ça
No, I didn’t want all that
Je serai riche
I’ll be rich
Et je t’offrirai tout mon or
I’ll offer you all my gold
Et si tu t’en fiches
And you don’t care
Je t’attendrai sur le port
I’ll wait for you at the harbor
Et si tu m’ignores
And if you ignore me
Je t’offrirai mon dernier souffle de vie
I’ll give you my last breath of life
Dans ma love story (3x)
In my love story
Ma love story
My love story
Une bougie
A candle
Peut illuminer la nuit
Can light up the night
Un sourire
A smile
Peut bâtir tout un empire
Can build an empire
Et il y a toi
And there’s you
Et il y a moi
And there’s me
Et personne n’y croit
And nobody believes it
Mais l’amour fait d’un fou un roi
But love makes a crazy person into a king
Et si tu m’ignores
And if you ignore me
J’me battrai encore et encore
I’ll fight again and again
C’est ta love story
It’s your love story
C’est ta love story
It’s your love story
C’est l’histoire d’une vie
It’s the story of your life
Love story
Love story
Des cris de joie
Screams of joy
Quelques larmes on s’en va
A few tears, let’s go
On vit dans cette love story
We live in this love story
Love story (9x)
Love story
💡 Want more beautiful French stories?
Check out Camille’s À Moi Paris course: engaging narrations at slow, medium & fast speeds, guiding you from beginner to advanced while growing your vocabulary.
👉 Explore the course »
📖 Read my full review »
If you purchase the courses, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you.
Line-by-Line Breakdown of the Love Story Lyrics
The following section highlights selected lyrics that reveal useful French vocabulary and grammar points.
L’âme en peine
The expression, l’âme en peine translates to “lost soul” or “soul in torment”. In French, “âme” means “soul” and “peine” means sorrow, grief or anguish. The lyrics of the song Tous Les Garçons et Les Filles by Françoise Hardy also has this expression.
Il vit mais parle à peine
This line translates to “He lives but barely speaks”. “Vit” comes from the verb vivre which means “to live” or “to be alive”. The expression, à peine means barely.
Il attend devant cette photo d’antan
This line translates to “He waits in front of this picture from years ago”. Attend comes from the verb attendre (to wait). The verb “attendre” can also to translate to “to expect”.
The preposition devant means “physically in front of”. Antan is a literary word meaning before, of yesteryear or of long ago.
Il, il n’est pas fou
This line means “He’s not crazy”. The adjective fou/folle means crazy. “Est” is the third-person singular (il/elle/on; he, she, one) form of the verb être (to be).
Il y croit c’est tout
This line translates to “He believes in it, that’s all”. “Croit” is the third-person form of croire (to believe). Y is an indirect object pronoun meaning “it”. Y is used for verbs followed by the preposition “à“. In the context of the song’s lyrics, we believe the y (it) refers to the man’s love for the woman and her eventual return.
Il la voit partout
This line translates to “he sees her everywhere”. In this line, la is a direct object pronoun and means “her”. The word “la” is also the feminine form of the direct article, meaning “the”.
Il l’attend debout
This line translates to “He waits for her standing”. Again, the l’ is the direct object pronoun, meaning “her”. Debout means “standing” or “upright”.
Une rose à la main
This line translates literally to “at the hand” but means “in his hand”. Body parts in French are almost always preceded by the direct article (le, la, les meaning “the”) and not the possessive adjective (his, her, etc.).
À part elle il n’attend rien
This line translates to “Besides her, he’s not waiting for anything”. The expression, à part means “except for” or “besides”. Il n’attend rien can translate to both “He doesn’t wait for anything” or “He waits for nothing”. Rien means “nothing” or “anything”. The negation ne + verb + rien means “does not + verb + anything”.
Rien autour n’a de sens
This line translates to “Nothing around him makes any sense”. In addition to being used in the negation, rien can also be the subject of a sentence. The expression ne pas avoir de sens translates to not make any sense. The word sens means “sense” or “meaning”.
Et l’air est lourd
The line translates to “and the air is heavy”. Air translates to both “air” and “atmosphere”. The adjective lourd means “heavy”.
Le regard absent
This line translates to “An absent expression”. While the verb regarder means “to watch” and “to look at”, the noun regard translates to “expression”, “look” and “gaze”.
Non, non plus rien ne le retient
This line translates to “No, nothing else is holding him back”. Plus rien means “nothing more” or “nothing else”. The verb retenir means “to retain” or “to hold back”.
Promets-moi que tout ira bien
This line translates to “Promise me everything will be okay”. “Tout ira bien” translates literally to “all will go well”. This is the future tense of the verb aller (to go). The verb “aller” is used in expressions about how one is doing. For example, ça va (how’s it going?) uses aller.
Serre-moi fort
This line translates loosely to “hold me tight”. The verb serrer means “to tighten”, “to squeeze” and “to grip”.
Oui, oui je veux rester
This line translates to “Yes, yes I want to stay”. Veux is the first-person singular (je) for of the verb vouloir (to want). Rester can translate to “to stay” and “to remain”.
Mais je ne sais plus aimer
This line translates to “But I don’t know how to love anymore”. The negation ne + verb + plus translates to “anymore”.
J’ai été trop bête
This line translates to “I was too stupid”. “J’ai été“ is the passé composé (a French past tense) of être (to be). The adjective bête translate to both “silly” and “stupid”.
Je t’en prie, arrête
This line translates to “please, stop”. The expression “Je vous en prie“ translates literally to “I beg of you” and is a way of saying please in French.
Non, je ne voulais pas tout ça
This line translates to “No, I didn’t want all that”. “Voulais” is the imperfect tense vouloir (to want).
Je serai riche, Et je t’offrirai tout mon or
These two lines translate to “I’ll be rich, I’ll offer you all my gold”. Both of these lines use the French future tense.
Et si tu t’en fiches
This line translates to “And you don’t care”. The expression s’en ficher de means “to not care about”.
Une bougie, Peut illuminer la nuit
These two lines translate to “A candle, Can light up the night”. Peut is the third-person singular (il/elle) form of the verb pouvoir (can, to be able).
Un sourire, Peut bâtir tout un empire
These lines translate to “A smile, Can build an empire” The word sourire is both the verb for “to smile” and noun for “smile”.
Et il y a toi, Et il y a moi
These lines translate to “And there’s you, and there’s me”. Il y a translate to “there is”, “there are”, and “ago”. “Moi” and “toi” are stressed (or disjunctive) pronouns and mean “me” and “you”.
Et personne n’y croit
This line translates to “And nobody believes it”. Personne means “nobody” or “anybody”.
J’me battrai encore et encore
This line translates to “I’ll fight again and again”. The reflexive verb “se battre” means “to fight”.
Des cris de joie
This line translates to “Screams of joy”. The noun cri translates to “cry”, “scream” and “should” and is related to the verb crier (to scream).
Quelques larmes on s’en va
This line translates to “A few tears, let’s go”. The reflexive verb s’en aller means “to leave”, “to go” and “to be on one’s way”.
Become an expert in French song lyrics!
Using song lyrics is one of the most effective ways to learn French. In addition to “Love Story”, we’ve also covered Indila’s hit songs “Ainsi bas la vida“, “Tourner dans le vide“, “S.O.S“, “Dernière danse“, “Caroussel“.
Stromae is a leading French-speaking Belgian singer. We’ve covered Stromae’s hit songs “Alors on danse“, “Papaoutai” and “Formidable“.
Edith Piaf is undoubtedly France’s most famous singer of all time. We’ve covered the following Edith Piaf songs: “La vie en rose“, “Non, je ne regrette rien“, “Sous le ciel de Paris“, “Milord” and “Mon Dieu“.
Looking for some more classic options? Consider “Ne me quitte pas” by Jacques Brel or “C’est si bon” by Yves Montand!
Want some more modern options? Check out “La symphonie des éclairs” by Zaho de Sagazan and “Mon amour – France’s 2024 Eurovision entry” by Slimane.
🚀 Take your learning to the next level!
FrenchLearner offers one of the largest collections of French song lessons online. Visit the French song lyrics hub to explore classics from the 1950s to the 2000s.
