Ninja by Soprano

Published by Lyrical Language on

“Ninja” by Soprano is often considered one of the ‘tubes’ or hits of the summer for 2020 and peaked at 37 on the Top Singles chart. It appears on his 2018 album Phœnix.

Skip to Lyrics
Skip to Translation

About the Artist

Saïd M’Roumbaba, who performs as Soprano, is a rapper, singer and songwriter from Marseille, France. He got his start in the rap group Psy 4 de la rime with DJ Sya Styles and his cousins Alonzo and Vincenzo. The group was active throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s. In February of 2007 he released his first solo album  Puisqu’il faut vivre, which won best album at the “L’année de musique classique en 2008” ceremony which recognizes French hip-hop artists. The single “À la bien” from this album won best song at the same ceremony. In October of 2017 he became the first French rapper to fill an entire stadium, with 53,000 spectators attending his concert at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. His last three albums have all been certified diamond, and he as won Male Francophone Artist of the Year at the NRJ Music Awards three times, in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Biographical information from Wikipedia.

Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations

‘plaquer’ – This is the first of two verbs in this song meaning ‘to dump’. In more standard usage this verb means ‘to flatten’, ‘to plaster’, or ‘to tackle’. It can also mean ‘to ditch’ or ‘to blow someone off’.

‘prince charmant’ – Just as one would assume, this phrase means ‘prince charming’.

‘l’homme rêvé’ – While this would literally translate as ‘the dreamed man’, it means one’s ‘dream man’ or ‘ideal man’.

‘LV’ – This is a shortened version of Louis Vuitton, a French fashion house and luxury retail company founded by Louis Vuitton.

‘larguer’ – This is the other verb meaning ‘to dump’ or ‘to break up with’. More standard meanings are ‘to release’, ‘to unfasten’, ‘to drop’, ‘to throw away’, or ‘to throw out’. It can also mean ‘to leave someone behind’.

‘Rihanna’ – Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist from Saint Michael, Barbados.

‘gaulée’ – The verb ‘gauler’ means ‘to knock down’ or in slang ‘to catch’. However, when used as an adjective in colloquial language to discuss a woman it means ‘shapely’ or ‘curvy’.

‘prof’ – This is a shortened version of the term ‘proffesseur’ (masculine) or ‘proffesseure’ (feminine) meaning ‘professor’ or ‘teacher’. This term is usually used for someone who teaches older students, such as a college professor, high school teacher, or as here a zumba instructor. You won’t see this term used for younger students, rather the terms ‘instituteur’ (masculine) and ‘institutrice’ (feminine) are used.

‘avoir + age’ – This is one of the constructions that uses ‘avoir’. In French you aren’t X years old, you literally ‘have X years’. For example ‘elle a dix ans’.

‘ta femme’ – The term ‘femme’ can mean either ‘woman’ or ‘wife’. (Yes, when you say ‘his wife’, you are literally saying ‘his woman’. What can I say, it’s a little bit leftover Latin male chauvinism.) While use of a possessive adjective before ‘femme’ usually signals that the term means ‘wife’ rather than ‘woman’, however with the addition of the adj ‘parfaite’ we know it means ‘woman’, as he is saying ‘your perfect woman’.

‘t’en rêvais’ – This is an example of the adverbial pronoun ‘en’, when it is used to replace the object of the preposition ‘de’. In this use it is often translated as ‘about it’. Here ‘en’ refers to ‘ta femme parfaite’. Instead of saying ‘tu rêvais de ta femme partaite’, it is shortened to ‘t’en rêvais’ (you were dreaming about her). The shortening of ‘tu’ to ‘t” is common in colloquial language, but should not be used in more formal language.

‘pour que’ – ‘Pour que’, meaning ‘so that’ is one of the conjunctions that requires the subjunctive.

‘Dolce’– This is a reference to Dolce & Gabbana an Italian luxury fashion house founded by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.

‘en + present participle’ – The preposition ‘en’, when followed by a present participle, means ‘while’. Here the example is ‘en esperant’ which means ‘while waiting’.

‘Ton message est resté en lu’ – This phrase literally translates as ‘your message remains read’, the implication being that it was seen but not responded to.

Passé Composé with Être

While most verbs take the auxiliary verb ‘avoir’ in the passé composé, there are instances where the auxiliary verb ‘être’ is necessary. There are a couple of these instances in this song.

‘Il est parti’ – The verb ‘partir’ always takes the auxiliary verb ‘être’ in the passé composé.

‘Elle est partie’ – Once again we have the verb ‘partir’, however you will note that this time the past participle has an extra ‘e’ at the end. Unlike verbs that take ‘avoir’, the past participle of verbs that take ‘être’ must match the subject. As the subject here is a woman an extra ‘e’ is added to ‘parti’. If the subject was plural an extra ‘s’ or ‘es’ would be necessary.

‘est resté’ – The verb ‘rester’ is another verb that takes the auxiliary verb ‘être’ in the passé composé.

Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown

Mouse over a term for grammatical information. A chart of the terms and grammatical information can be found here.

Ninja

[Verse 1]
Tu l’as plaqué pour un prince charmant, grand musclé, gros bolide allemand
Cultivé riche et élégant, il avait le pedigree d’un super amant
L’homme parfait, l’homme rêvé, il avait tout ce que l’autre n’avait pas
Il t’offrait du LV, t’as tout fait pour qu’un jour, il te mette la bague au doigt, doigt, doigt
Mais dès qu’il a eu son premier soir, soir, soir

[Chorus 1]
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja

[Verse 2]
Tu l’as largué pour une latina, grande, brune, gaulée comme une Rihanna
Robe moulante, prof de zumba, au lit, elle t’a fait croire que t’avais vingt ans
Ta femme parfaite, t’en rêvais, elle avait tout c’que l’autre n’avait pas
Tu offrais du Dolce, t’as tout fait pour qu’un jour, tu lui mettes la bague au doigt, doigt, doigt
Mais dès qu’elle a vidé ta Visa (‘sa, ‘sa)

[Chorus 2]
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ja, ja
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ja, ja
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ja, ja
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ja, ja

[Bridge]
Dans la vie, rien n’est parfait, en amour, rien n’est parfait
Tu envoies tous tes regrets à ton ex en espérant le revoir, voir, voir
Ton message est resté en lu un soir, cinq soirs, dix soirs car

[Chorus 1]
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ja, ja

Lyrics with Translation

Songs in any language often leave room for multiple interpretations. Following is my interpretation of the song lyrics.

Ninja
Ninja

[Verse 1]
Tu l’as plaqué pour un prince charmant, grand musclé, gros bolide allemand
You dumped him for a prince charming, tall, muscular, big German hotrod
Cultivé, riche et élégant, il avait le pedigree d’un super amant
Cultured, rich and sophisticated, he had the pedigree of a super lover
L’homme parfait, l’homme rêvé, il avait tout ce que l’autre n’avait pas
The perfect man, the dream man, he had everything the other didn’t have
Il t’offrait du LV, t’as tout fait pour qu’un jour, il te mette la bague au doigt, doigt, doigt
He offered you LV, you did everything so that one day, he would put the ring on your finger, finger, finger
Mais dès qu’il a eu son premier soir, soir, soir
But as soon as he had his first night, night, night

[Chorus 1]
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja

[Verse 2]
Tu l’as largué pour une latina, grande, brune, gaulée comme une Rihanna
You dumped him for a latina, tall, brunette, curvy like a Rihanna
Robe moulante, prof de zumba, au lit, elle t’a fait croire que t’avais vingt ans
Slinky dress, zumba teacher, in bed, she made you believe that you were twenty years old
Ta femme parfaite, t’en rêvais, elle avait tout c’que l’autre n’avait pas
Your perfect woman, you dreamed of her, she had everything that the other didn’t have
Tu offrais du Dolce, t’as tout fait pour qu’un jour, tu lui mettes la bague au doigt, doigt, doigt
You offered Dolce, you did everything so that one day, you would put the ring on her finger, finger, finger
Mais dès qu’elle a vidé ta Visa (‘sa, ‘sa)
But as soon as she emptied your Visa (‘sa,’ sa)

[Chorus 2]
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
She left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
She left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
She left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Elle est partie comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
She left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja

[Bridge]
Dans la vie, rien n’est parfait, en amour, rien n’est parfait
In life, nothing is perfect, in love, nothing is perfect
Tu envoies tous tes regrets à ton ex en espérant le revoir, voir, voir
You send all your regrets to your ex hoping to see him again, gain, gain
Ton message est resté en lu un soir, cinq soirs, dix soirs car
Your message stays read one night, five nights, ten nights because

[Chorus 1]
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja
Il est parti comme un ninja, ‘ja, ‘ja
He left like a ninja, ‘ja,’ ja

Grammatical Concepts Used in this Song

  • Expressions with ‘avoir’:
    • avoir + age
      • elle t’a fait croire que t’avais vingt ans
  • Pronoun ‘en’:
    • Ta femme parfaite, t’en rêvais (rêver de)
  • Subjunctive:
    • following ‘pour que’
      • pour qu‘un jour, il te mette la bague au doigt
      • pour qu‘un jour, tu lui mettes la bague au doigt
  • Present Participle:
    • Tu envoies tous tes regrets à ton ex en espérant le revoir
  • Passé Composé with ‘être’:
    • Il est parti comme un ninja
    • Elle est partie comme un ninja
    • Ton message est resté en lu un soir
  • Passé Composé with ‘avoir’:
    • Tu l’as plaqué pour un prince charmant
    • t’as tout fait pour qu’un jour
    • elle t’a fait croire que t’avais vingt ans
    • Mais dès qu’il a eu son premier soir
    • Tu l’as largué pour une latina
    • Mais dès qu’elle a vidé ta Visa
  • Imparfait:
    • elle t’a fait croire que t’avais vingt ans
    • Il t’offrait du LV
    • Tu offrais du Dolce
    • Ta femme parfaite, t’en rêvais
Categories: French
Tags:

Related Posts

La recette video thumbnail
French

La Recette by Slimane

“La recette” is a song by French singer/songwriter Slimane. It appears on his 2022 album Chroniques d’un cupidon. It is currently sitting at number 2 on the French radio hits chart. Cultural References, Idioms and Read more…

Toi tu pars video thumbnail
French

Toi tu pars by Céphaz

“Toi tu pars” is a single by Ghanan-born French singer Céphaz. It was released in November of 2021 and appears on his first, 2022 album L’homme aux mille couleurs. It has spent 22 weeks on Read more…

Tu t'en iras video thumbnail
French

Tu t’en iras by La Zarra

“Tu t’en iras” is the second single released by Canadian singer La Zarra. It appears on her 2021 album Traîtrise. It has spent 41 weeks on the French radio hits chart, having made the top Read more…