I’m wanting to tell someone “Follow your dreams, life is too short” in French. Problem is, I don’t know French well at all, and I’m reliant on Google translate to come up with the right words. I’d also like the phrase to rhyme, so I substituted a word. I’m hoping I didn’t ruin it.
So, I have two questions: 1. Does the following French sentence rhyme? and 2. Does it mean what I’m trying to say? (Follow your dreams, life is too short) My concern is maybe I used a word for “short” that only applies to tiny little parasites or maybe something even worse hehe
The phrase is:
Suivez vos rêves, la vie est trop brève
It’s grammatically correct and meaningful. It also rhymes. The word you chose for “short” is just fine.
However, “Suivez vos rêves” is not really colloquial and sounds a bit weird to me. I wouldn’t have used the verb suivre - maybe “réalisez vos rêves” (make your dreams happen) but that would mess with the rythm… I’ll think about it some more.
Got it ! The right verb would be “poursuivre” - so “Poursuivez vos rêves, la vie est trop brève”. Nice 5/5 scansion too.
If the person you want to say that to is close to you however (as in an intimate friend, a lover, a family member, that sort of thing) you probably want to use the “tu” form: “Poursuis tes rêves, la vie est trop brève”. But that messes the scansion so in that case you may want to shorten it to “Poursuis tes rêves, la vie est brève”. Follow your dreams, life is short. Concise and to the point
Or you could just try to be all cultured and shit and go for a famous St Exupéry quote : “Faîtes que le rêve dévore votre vie, afin que la vie ne dévore pas votre rêve”: Let dreams devour your life before life can devour your dreams.
: “Faîtes que le rêve dévore votre vie, afin que la vie ne dévore pas votre rêve”: Let dreams devour your life before life can devour your dreams.