Für dich will ich so stark sein
I want to be so strong for you – "Mama" by Phela
This upcoming Sunday, May 12, is Mother’s Day (Muttertag) in the U.S., Germany, and many other countries around the world. It’s a great chance to honor and acknowledge the mothers in our lives, and – if you happen to be a mother yourself – pause and reflect on what it means to be a mother. Motherhood is certainly an experience like none other, filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, and laughter and tears (both from our children and ourselves).
When my own daughter was just a few months old, I first encountered “Mama” by German singer-songwriter Phela, and was nearly brought to tears by the song’s beautiful description of motherhood – the joy, the self-doubt, the desire to be the best version of ourselves for our children and to never forget who we are to them.
Whether or not you’re a mother yourself, “Mama” is a gorgeous song, filled with emotion and many poetic German phrases and words:
Für dich will ich so stark sein
I want to be so strong for you
Stärker als ich’s bin
Stronger than I am
Und sollte ich scheitern
And should I fail
Darfst du mich dran erinnern
May you remind me
Dass ich deine Mama,
Dass ich deine Mama bin
That I’m your mama
From a language standpoint, the song’s refrain also offers us an example of the comparative adjective form in German. The adjective stark (strong) becomes stärker (stronger) in its comparative form (used here alongside the conjunction als). The adjective gains an -er prefix, as well as an umlaut vowel (ä), which often occurs when one-syllable adjectives form the comparative in German:
stark/stärker (strong/stronger)
groß/größer (big/bigger)
alt/älter (old/older)
lang/länger (long/longer)
If you listen closely, you can hear the subtle difference the umlaut makes in pronunciation between stark and stärker in the song.
Here are a few additional words from “Mama” to add to your vocabulary list:
anvisieren – to aim at / to target
ungeduldig – impatient
stark – strong
stärker – stronger
scheitern, versagen – to fail (synonyms)
erinnern – to remind / to remember
heimlich – secretly
zugedeckt – covered