Song guide

LA CANCIÓN

J Balvin, Bad Bunny

LA CANCIÓN by J Balvin, Bad Bunny, line by line: what the lyrics mean, 26 expressions explained and 403 words translated with their grammar. Learn Spanish from the song, free.

Lyrics with English translation, line by line

Each line as sung, what it means, and — where it needs one — why it's said that way.

1. Yeh, yeh, yeh

   Yeh, yeh, yeh

2. Pensaba que te había olvida'o, eh

   I thought I had forgotten you, eh

3. Pero pusieron la canción, eh, eh, eh

   But they played the song, eh, eh, eh

4. Que cantamo’ bien borracho'

   That we sang so drunk

   The elision of final -s in words like 'cantamo'' and 'borracho'' is a hallmark of Caribbean Spanish pronunciation, especially in Puerto Rican and Dominican speech. It is not a typo but a deliberate phonetic feature reflected in the lyrics.

5. Que bailamo' bien borracho’

   That we danced so drunk

6. Nos besamo' bien borracho' los dos

   We kissed each other so drunk, the two of us

7. Pensaba que te había olvida'o, eh

   I thought I had forgotten you, eh

8. Pero pusieron la canción, eh, eh, eh

   But they played the song, eh, eh, eh

9. Que cantamo' bien borracho'

   That we sang so drunk

10. Que bailamo' bien borracho'

    That we danced so drunk

11. Nos besamo’ bien borracho’ los dos

    We kissed each other so drunk, the two of us

12. Pensaba que te había olvida'o

    I thought I had forgotten you

13. Justo cuando creía

    Just when I believed

14. Que por comerme a do’ o diez, te olvidaría' (Yeh)

    That by hooking up with two or ten, I would forget you

    'Comerme a' someone is a Caribbean colloquial expression for hooking up with or being intimate with someone. It uses the metaphor of 'consuming' a person and is considered vulgar slang.

15. Cogí un respiro y me salí de la vía

    I took a breath and stepped off the track

16. Y como un pendejo, no sabía lo que hacía

    And like a fool, I didn't know what I was doing

    'Pendejo' is a vulgar insult across Latin America and Spain, roughly equivalent to 'idiot' or 'fool.' Its intensity and exact connotation vary by country — in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean it is very commonly used as self-deprecating slang.

17. Nunca lo superé, nunca te superé

    I never got over it, I never got over you

18. Hasta me aprendí to'a la' balada’ en inglé' (Yeh)

    I even learned all the ballads in English

19. Respiré y conté hasta tres (Uno, dos, tres)

    I breathed and counted to three (One, two, three)

20. Ere' la fantasía oscura de Kanye West, bebé, ey

    You're Kanye West's dark fantasy, baby, hey

    'La fantasía oscura de Kanye West' is a direct reference to Kanye West's 2010 album 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.' The singer compares his ex to the dark, obsessive beauty of that album's themes.

21. Hace tiempo lo barato me salió caro (Yih)

    A while back, what seemed cheap ended up costing me

22. Yo sólo twitteo, bala' loca' disparo (Yih)

    I only tweet, I fire off crazy shots

    'Bala' loca'' (crazy bullets) is slang for reckless or wild behavior — firing off unpredictable, unfiltered statements or actions. In social media context, it refers to posting impulsively on Twitter.

23. ¿Cómo olvidar la bellaquera en el carro?

    How could I forget the wildness in the car?

    'Bellaquera' is Caribbean Spanish slang (especially Puerto Rican) for sexual wildness, horniness, or provocative behavior. It derives from 'bellaco' (horny/naughty) and has no clean single-word English equivalent.

24. ¿A que guió solo?

    I bet it drove itself

25. Pensaba que te había' olvida'o (Pero no), yeh

    I thought I had forgotten you (But no), yeh

26. Pero pusieron la canción, yeh, yeh

    But they played the song, yeh, yeh

27. Que cantamos bien borrachos

    That we sang so drunk

28. Que bailamo' bien borrachos

    That we danced so drunk

29. Nos besamo' bien borracho' lo' dos

    We kissed each other so drunk, the two of us

30. Pensaba que te había' olvida'o, eh

    I thought I had forgotten you, eh

31. Pero pusieron la canción, yeh, yeh

    But they played the song, yeh, yeh

32. Que cantamo' bien borracho'

    That we sang so drunk

33. Que bailamo' bien borracho'

    That we danced so drunk

34. Nos besamo' bien borracho' los dos, ey, ey

    We kissed each other so drunk, the two of us, hey, hey

35. Y hace tiempo que no venía' a mi cabeza

    And it had been a while since you'd crossed my mind

36. Pero ya van par de cerveza'

    But I'm already a couple of beers in

37. Y me acordé de cómo tú me besa'

    And I remembered how you kiss me

38. De to' lo' polvo' encima 'e la mesa

    All the times on top of the table

39. Y en el carro, la playa, y el motel

    And in the car, the beach, and the motel

40. En casa de tu pai', cuando yo te iba a ver

    At your dad's place, when I used to come see you

    'Pai'' is Caribbean Spanish slang for 'papá' (dad/father), with the final syllable dropped. Similarly, 'mai'' on line 40 is slang for 'mamá' (mom). Both are very common in Puerto Rican and Dominican informal speech.

41. Las vece' que tu mai' no' llegó a coger

    The times your mom almost caught us

42. Tú brincando mojaíta', sudando Chanel

    You jumping around soaking wet, sweating Chanel

    'Sudando Chanel' (sweating Chanel) is a hyperbolic image suggesting the woman is so luxurious and sensual that even her sweat smells like Chanel perfume. It is a common trope in reggaeton and Latin trap to reference high-end brands as markers of desirability.

43. Yo sé que lo nuestro e' cosa de ayer

    I know what we had is a thing of the past

44. Y me pone contento que te va bien con él

    And it makes me happy that things are going well with him

45. Yo ni te extrañaba ni te quería ver

    I didn't even miss you or want to see you

46. Pero pusieron la canción que te gustaba poner

    But they played the song you always liked to put on

47. Y me acordé de ti, cuando me hiciste feliz

    And I remembered you, when you made me happy

48. Se acabó, pues, me fui, ey

    It was over, so I left, hey

49. Yo mismo me río de mí porque—

    I laugh at myself because—

50. Pensaba que te había' olvida'o, eh

    I thought I had forgotten you, eh

51. Pero pusieron la canción, yeh, yeh

    But they played the song, yeh, yeh

52. Que cantamos bien borrachos

    That we sang so drunk

53. Que bailamo' bien borrachos

    That we danced so drunk

54. Nos besamo' bien borracho' lo' do'

    We kissed each other so drunk, the two of us

55. Y yo pensaba que tu nombre estaba muerto, eh

    And I thought your name was dead to me, eh

56. Pero te soñé despierto, ey

    But I daydreamed about you, hey

57. Hoy salí pa' la calle suelto

    Today I went out into the street free

    'Pa'' is the elided form of 'para' (for/to), extremely common in Caribbean Spanish speech and reggaeton lyrics. 'Salir pa' la calle suelto' evokes the image of going out into the world free and unattached — a classic post-breakup declaration of independence.

58. Sin sentimiento', el corazón desierto

    Without feelings, my heart a desert

59. Y yo pensaba que tu nombre estaba muerto

    And I thought your name was dead to me

60. Pero te soñé despierto

    But I daydreamed about you

61. Hoy salí pa' la calle suelto

    Today I went out into the street free

62. Sin sentimiento', el corazón desierto

    Without feelings, my heart a desert

Expressions and idioms in “LA CANCIÓN”

The lines that don't mean what the dictionary says.

había olvida'o had forgotten

This is the pluperfect (past perfect) tense formed with the imperfect of haber + past participle. It describes an action completed before another past moment — 'I had already forgotten you' before the song played.

Pensaba que te había olvida'o I thought I had forgotten you

pensaba que introduces a reported belief in the past. The imperfect pensaba sets the background state, while the pluperfect había olvidado describes what the speaker believed to be already completed at that point.

Justo cuando creía Just when I believed

justo cuando is a fixed temporal expression meaning 'right at the moment when.' The imperfect creía signals an ongoing background belief that gets interrupted.

por comerme a by hooking up with

por + infinitive expresses means or cause ('by doing something'). comerme here is a reflexive/colloquial use of comerse meaning to 'consume' or 'hook up with' someone — not literal eating.

me salí de la vía I stepped off the track

salirse de la vía literally means 'to get off the track/path.' Used metaphorically here to mean the speaker lost his way or went off course emotionally. The reflexive me salí (vs. salí) emphasizes a deliberate or self-directed departure.

cogí un respiro I took a breather

coger un respiro is an idiomatic expression meaning 'to take a break / catch one's breath.' It parallels the English 'take a breather' and is not deducible from the individual words alone.

nunca lo superé I never got over it

superar in this context means 'to get over' something emotionally — a breakup, a loss. It is a very common expression in Spanish for emotional recovery. The direct object lo refers to the relationship or the pain.

nunca te superé I never got over you

superar + a person means 'to get over someone' romantically. This is a key idiomatic use: te superé does not mean 'I surpassed you' but 'I moved on from you emotionally.' The repetition of nunca superé (first with lo, then with te) is a rhetorical doubling for emphasis.

me aprendí to'a la' balada' I learned all the ballads by heart

aprenderse (reflexive) means to learn something thoroughly, often by heart. The reflexive me adds a sense of personal investment or completeness not present in the plain aprender. This is a pronominal verb whose meaning shifts slightly from the non-reflexive form.

hace tiempo a while back / some time ago

hace + time expression is the standard Spanish way to express 'ago' or 'it has been X time.' hace tiempo on its own means 'a while ago / some time back.' This construction has no direct word-for-word equivalent in English.

lo barato me salió caro what seemed cheap ended up costing me

This is a well-known Spanish proverb/saying: 'lo barato sale caro' — 'cheap things turn out expensive.' salir + adjective means 'to turn out to be.' The construction lo + adjective nominalizes the adjective: lo barato = 'the cheap thing / what was cheap.'

¿A que guió solo? I bet it drove itself

¿A que...? is a colloquial rhetorical construction used to make a bet or express certainty, equivalent to 'I bet that...' or 'Don't tell me that...' It is not a genuine question but a sarcastic or playful assertion.

venir a mi cabeza to cross my mind

venir a la cabeza is a fixed idiom meaning 'to come to mind.' It parallels the English 'to cross one's mind' and cannot be translated literally as 'to come to my head.'

hace tiempo que no venía' a mi cabeza it had been a while since you'd crossed my mind

hace tiempo que no + imperfect is a construction expressing 'it had been a long time since something happened.' venir a la cabeza means 'to come to mind / to cross one's mind' — a fixed idiomatic phrase not deducible word by word.

me acordé de I remembered

acordarse de is a pronominal (reflexive) verb that requires the preposition de. The plain verb acordar means 'to agree/decide.' The reflexive acordarse de completely changes the meaning to 'to remember.' This is a classic reflexive meaning-shift.

iba a ver I used to go to see / I was going to see

ir a + infinitive is the periphrastic future/intentional construction ('going to do something'). In the imperfect (iba a), it expresses habitual past intention or action: 'I used to go see you.' This is one of the most common verb constructions in Spanish.

llegó a coger almost caught (us)

llegar a + infinitive normally means 'to manage to do / to get to the point of doing.' In negative or near-miss contexts it can imply 'almost.' Here it means your mom nearly caught them in the act.

cosa de ayer a thing of the past

cosa de ayer literally means 'a thing of yesterday' but functions as a fixed expression meaning 'something that belongs to the past.' It is the Spanish equivalent of 'a thing of the past.'

me pone contento it makes me happy

poner + adjective is a very common construction meaning 'to make someone feel a certain way.' me pone contento = 'it makes me happy.' This differs from hacer feliz (line 46) — both express 'making happy' but poner + adjective is used for temporary emotional states.

te va bien things are going well for you

irle bien a alguien is a fixed construction meaning 'for things to go well for someone.' The indirect object pronoun te indicates who benefits. This is not 'you go well' but 'it goes well for you.'

ni... ni... neither... nor...

ni...ni... is the Spanish correlative conjunction pair for 'neither...nor...' When used with a verb already negated by context, it reinforces the double negation. In Spanish, double negatives are grammatically correct and emphatic.

te quería ver I wanted to see you

querer + infinitive expresses desire or want: 'to want to do something.' This is one of the most fundamental modal-like constructions in Spanish. te is the direct object of ver, placed before the conjugated verb quería.

me fui I left

irse (reflexive) means 'to leave / to go away.' The reflexive me fui differs from fui alone (which just means 'I went'). irse emphasizes departure from a place or situation, making it the standard way to say 'I left.'

se acabó it was over / it ended

acabarse (reflexive) means 'to come to an end / to be over.' The reflexive se changes the meaning from acabar ('to finish something') to 'to run out / to be finished.' se acabó is a very common fixed expression for 'it's over.'

me río de mí I laugh at myself

reírse de is a pronominal verb + governed preposition construction meaning 'to laugh at.' The plain reír means 'to laugh' (intransitive). reírse de + person/thing = 'to laugh at someone/something.' Here mí (prepositional pronoun) is the object after de.

te soñé despierto I daydreamed about you

soñar despierto literally means 'to dream while awake' — the Spanish equivalent of 'to daydream.' The addition of despierto (awake) transforms a regular dream into a waking fantasy or daydream. te is the direct object, making you the subject of the dream.

Vocabulary to learn from “LA CANCIÓN”

The words the song uses most.

• borracho drunk adjective ·15
• pensar I thought / I used to think verb ·8
• olvidar forgotten verb ·8
• poner they played / they put on verb ·8
• haber had verb ·6
• la canción song noun ·6
• besar we kissed verb ·6
• cantar we sang verb ·5
• bailar we danced verb ·5
• salir I left / I got out verb ·4
• hacer I was doing / I did verb ·4
• ir there are / they go verb ·3

Verbs in the song, and the form being sung

Present tense for each; the highlighted row is the one you'll hear.

Grammar you'll meet in this song

• Preterite40
• Imperfect24
• Present12
• Conditional1

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