Wednesday, 29 April 2015

You, you have, you have me



Du
du hast
du hast mich
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab nichts gesagt

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein für alle Tage

Nein

Willst du bis zum Tod, der scheide
sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen

Nein


You
You have
You have me
You have me asked
You have me asked, and I have nothing said

Do you want to be faithful for eternity
Unl death parts you?

tiNever!

Do you want, until death, which would seperate,
to love her, even in bad days

No

Never!


http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3582

Although the German phrase does not translate to English, "Du hast" can mean "you have," but it can also mean "you hate." Therefore the song has two meanings. One being sort of "You hate me but still want to marry me" (the song is about marriage) and the other being "You want to marry me but I don't want to." (thanks, Oscar - Stockholm, Sweden)

"Hast" is a conjugation of the base form "haben" which means "to have." To hate, would be the verb "hassen" which would be conjugated as "Du hasst mich" (you hate me). Though they are similar they are not homophones in that the S sounds in "hasst" for "hate" would be stressed a little more then it would in "hast" for "have." This is confirmed when Till says, "Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nights gesagt," which literally means "You have asked me and I have said nothing. "Hast" is used as the "haben" helper verb for the past participle "gefragt," of which its base form is "fragen," which means "to ask." (thanks, Scott - Vincennes, IN)