Never Gonna Give You Up!

[NoodlePowa]

I thought it'd be pretty funny to translate the chorus of a very famous Astley song!


Te numquam condonabo
Te numquam deficiam
Numquam curram et te deseram
Te flere numquam adducam
Ad te numquam valedicam
Ad te numquam mentiam et te dolebo


Is there anything wrong with it, grammatically? Thanks!

[Chamaeleo]

The grammar seems about right. Remember that mentior is deponent. ‘Dolēo’ either means to be in pain, or is used impersonally. So, it would need to be ‘Numqvam tibi mentiar ac nocēbō’.

Never gonna give you up;
Never gonna let you down;
Never gonna run around and desert you.
Never gonna make you cry;
Never gonna say goodbye;
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

Here’s how I’d do it:

Numqvam tē tradam;
Numqvam tē dēficĭam;
Numqvam concursāns tē dēsĕram.
Numqvam facĭam ut fleās;
Numqvam valēre tē jubēbō;
Numqvam mentĭēns tē lædam.

I feel the participles connect the concepts better.

It doesn’t rhyme, of course.

[NoodlePowa]

Much thanks!

I'd imagine my recipients would be rather confused.

[Bitmap]

Numquam curram et te deseram

Ad te numquam mentiam et te dolebo

If you want to connect negative statements, you should use neque or nec
Chamaeleo found a way around this problem by suggesting participles. That's even more elegant of course.

[Imber Ranae]

I've already translated the lyrics of this song into elegant Latin elegiac couplets. You can see it at my site here.

What, too obvious?

[Chamaeleo]

Is it possible to be rickrolled when you’re already discussing Astley? LOL

[NoodlePowa]

Wow, you certainly got me there!

[Chamaeleo]

Haha, OK, it’s no masterpiece, but I shoehorned it into the meter.

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NVMQVAM | TRÁDAM A|MANTEM | NEC PRÓ|DAM, MEA | VÍTA.
NVMQVAM | CONCVR|SÁNS // OSCVLA | DISTRIBV|AM,
TV́QVE ME|Á CAV|SÁ NÓN | VMQVAM | FLÉBIS, A|MÍCA.
DÉSERE | NÓLAM | TÉ. // OMNIA | VÉRA E|RVNT.

[Cato]

Haha, OK, it’s no masterpiece, but I shoehorned it into the meter...

I'll grant you the hiatus te omnia, but vera erunt is a toughie--not to mention tradam amantem...then again, I got rickrolled on this thread, so what do I know?

[Chamaeleo]

Ah, well. Surely it’s no worse than the original...

[Matthaeus]

Yeah, there's nothing like good ol' 80s pop.