Hi, I'm attempting to learn German and I'm trying to translate the song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.

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<a href="/en/translator/coleromo" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1087862">Coleromo <div class="author_icon" title="Page author" ></div></a>
Joined: 09.07.2011
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Hi, I'm attempting to learn German and I'm trying to translate the song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. The chorus is

Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

I can translate it word for word but I have a lot of trouble with the order you put the words in/grammar. Could someone translate that and give me some reasoning for the order you put the words in? It would REALLY help my German and would be greatly appreciated.

Junior Member
<a href="/en/translator/simonreiger" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1081676">simon.reiger </a>
Joined: 15.04.2011

A few lines will be hardly understandable if translated word for word into german language.
Examples: Second line "You're taking one down" is best translated with "Du ziehst einen/jemanden hinunter/herunter" when you want remain close to the text. Maybe a littlebit unusual, you don't hear that too often, but completely legit and understandable. Important is the context because in german "Du ziehst jemanden hinunter" could mean lots of things. It is mostly used for moving things and persons. E.g.: "Du ziehst (das Seil) hinunter [um das Wasser zu bekommen]" - > "You pull (the rope) down [to get the water]" (Thinking of an oldschool well). And yes, as I said you can also "pull down" someones feelings as exactly pointed out in the second line of the song (take sb down). But you just would translate it using the word "pull someone down" since "take someone down" makes no sence here as I wrote above.

Being a German I would rather say "Du willst mir/einem/jemandem den Tag vermiesen". -> "You want to spoil my/one's/someone's day". Where "vermiesen" originates from the adjective "mies"="poor, mean,seedy"
OK back to topic ;-)

"You had a bad day" would be simply "Du hattest einen schlechten Tag". Same word order here. But you could also go a different way. I get to this later.

Sadly you can't do that with the first sentence since the "Because" indicates what is called in german "Nebensatz" - a sub-clause, specificly an adverbial clause (the sentence is not finished). You have to say:
"Because you had a bad day" -> "Weil du einen schlechten Tag hattest"
So the verb (predicate) is at the end of the sentence !
Easy & stupid example:
"I read a book because I read a book"
"Ich lese ein Buch, weil ich ein Buch lese"
And yes, that's the story where commas are mainly used. To separate sub-clauses and main-clauses.
Please read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_adverbial_phrases

Problem is that you can always flip such a sentence.
"I read a book because I read a book" -> "Because I read a book, I read a book"
When you look at the first sentence of the song, you recognize that this is the same form !
In german you can also flip the order of the two parts of the sentence, but sadly word order changes again:
"Ich lese ein Buch, weil ich ein Buch lese" -> "Weil ich ein Buch lese, lese ich ein Buch"
(AND NOT: "Weil ich ein Buch lese, ich lese ein Buch" or "Weil ich ein Buch lese, ich ein Buch lese")
So the second part of our sentence now has to look like a typical german question: "Lese ich ein Buch ?" But of course it is not used as a question here. It is the correct form of our adverbial clause. Yes very confusing.

So you can translate the song just simple or by using adverbial clauses. I mean, the first line of the song is one part and every other line represents the second part.
Like:
Because you had a bad day, You're taking one down
(Because you had a bad day), You tell me don't lie
(Because you had a bad day), You say you don't know
etc.

Weil du einen schlechten Tag hattest, ziehst du jetzt einen hinunter
(Weil du einen schlechten tag hattest), erzählst du mir ich solle nicht lügen
(Weil du einen schlechten tag hattest), sagst du, du wüsstest von nichts
etc...

But it is also OK when you just an adverbial clause for the first to lines:

Because you had a bad day, You're taking one down
You tell me don't lie
You say you don't know
etc.

Weil du einen schlechten Tag hattest, ziehst du jetzt einen hinunter
du erzählst mir ich solle nicht lügen
du sagst mir, du wüsstest von nichts
etc...

(I put in the "jetzt" in the second sentence because it sounds really better. It points out that this is an actual consequence of the fact that he had a bad day)

I hope this helps a bit. Could write for hours, but still got some work to do..
regards

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<a href="/en/translator/simspari" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1088134">simspari </a>
Joined: 13.07.2011

I use a phrasebook from eton to help me. Try it =)