Song guide
Lo extraño que soy
Phil Collins
Lo extraño que soy by Phil Collins, line by line: what the lyrics mean, 28 expressions explained and 190 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.
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Lo que hagas tú hoy, lo haré
Whatever you do today, I'll do the same
The opening line establishes a mirroring dynamic — the speaker will imitate or shadow whatever the other person does. This 'follow-the-leader' motif is a common device in songs about learning from someone you admire or love.
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También dime cómo es y aprenderé
Also, tell me what it's like, and I'll learn
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Es razonable, mas no para mí
It makes sense, but not to me
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Sé que hay tanto por aprender
I know there's so much to learn
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Parece claro, mas no es verdad
It seems clear, but it's not true
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Y puedo ver mi propia imagen
And I can see my own reflection
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Descubriré cuán grande es mi futuro
I will discover how bright my future is
The word grande in Spanish carries connotations of greatness, magnitude, and brightness of prospects — not just physical size. Translating it as 'bright' (as in 'a bright future') captures this nuance better than the literal 'big.'
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Quiero saber, que me enseñes
I want to know — I want you to teach me
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Quiero saber lo extraño que soy
I want to know just how strange I am
The recurring phrase 'lo extraño que soy' (how strange I am) is the emotional core of the song — the speaker is aware of being different or out of place, and is asking someone else to help them understand their own nature.
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Dime más que entienda
Tell me more so I can understand
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Lo que es normal en lo extraño que soy
What's normal about how strange I am
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Cada gesto, como mueve su ser
Every gesture — how it moves her very being
The phrase 'su ser' (her very being) is a poetic way of saying the gestures move her at the deepest level of her identity. Using ser as a noun is a hallmark of literary and philosophical Spanish.
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Siento un algo como nunca sentí
I feel something I've never felt before
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Esta atracción me invita
This attraction draws me in
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A estar muy junto a ella
To be very close to her
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Las emociones que hoy conocí
The emotions I experienced today
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De un mundo son que jamás viví
They come from a world I never lived in
jamás is more emphatic than nunca and is often used in literary or emotional contexts to stress the absolute nature of a negation — 'never, not ever, not in any world.' Its use here underlines how completely foreign these emotions are to the speaker.
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Detrás del sol, detrás del mar
Behind the sun, behind the sea
'Detrás del sol, detrás del mar' evokes a sense of the unknown and the beyond — a poetic image of searching for something that lies past the visible world. This kind of horizon imagery is common in Spanish-language romantic and philosophical poetry.
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¿Qué habrá de nuevo en el horizonte?
What new things await on the horizon?
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Quiero saber, que me enseñes
I want to know — I want you to teach me
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Quiero saber lo extraño que soy
I want to know just how strange I am
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Dime más que entienda
Tell me more so I can understand
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Lo que es normal en lo extraño que soy
What's normal about how strange I am
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Ven conmigo, te mostraré
Come with me, I'll show you
The shift from the speaker asking to be taught (lines 7–22) to now inviting the other person into their world marks a turning point in the song — the speaker gains enough confidence to become a guide themselves.
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Que en mi mundo esto es realidad
That in my world, this is reality
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Y a sentir lo que siento yo contigo aquí
And to feel what I feel with you here
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Sígueme, con mi mano te guiaré
Follow me; I'll guide you with my hand
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Quiero saber, que me enseñes
I want to know — I want you to teach me
-
Quiero saber lo extraño que soy
I want to know just how strange I am
-
Dime más que entienda
Tell me more so I can understand
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Lo que es normal en lo extraño que soy
What's normal about how strange I am
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Quiero saber
I want to know
Expressions and idioms in “Lo extraño que soy”
The lines that don't mean what the dictionary says.
- Lo que hagas whatever you do
- lo que + subjunctive creates a free relative clause meaning 'whatever' or 'that which.' The subjunctive hagas signals that the action is indefinite or hypothetical rather than a specific known event.
- lo haré I'll do the same / I'll do it
- The neuter pronoun lo stands in for the entire action just described ('whatever you do'), functioning as a direct object that replaces a whole clause. This lo-as-clause-substitute is very common in Spanish.
- dime cómo es tell me what it's like
- dime is the imperative of decir with the clitic me fused onto it. In affirmative imperatives, clitic pronouns attach directly to the end of the verb. The phrase cómo es literally means 'how it is,' but in context it means 'what it's like.'
- mas no para mí but not for me
- mas (without an accent) is a literary/poetic conjunction meaning 'but,' distinct from más (with accent) meaning 'more.' It is more formal and less common than pero, and appears frequently in song lyrics and poetry.
- hay tanto por aprender there is so much to learn
- hay (from haber) is the impersonal 'there is/are' construction. The structure por + infinitive here expresses something remaining to be done, equivalent to English 'left to learn' or 'yet to learn.'
- no es verdad it's not true
- no es verdad is a fixed way to say 'it's not true' or 'that's not right.' The noun verdad (truth) is used predicatively with ser. Compare with no es cierto, which means the same thing.
- puedo ver I can see
- poder + infinitive is the standard modal construction for 'can/to be able to.' The infinitive ver follows directly without any preposition, which is the rule with modal verbs like poder, querer, and deber.
- mi propia imagen my own reflection / my own image
- propio/a placed before a noun means 'own,' reinforcing possession. It is not the same as the adjective propio meaning 'proper' or 'characteristic' when placed after the noun. Here mi propia imagen = 'my very own image/reflection.'
- cuán grande es how great / how bright
- cuán is an exclamatory/interrogative adverb meaning 'how' before an adjective or adverb, used in more formal or poetic registers. In everyday speech, qué tan grande or lo grande que es would be more common.
- quiero que me enseñes I want you to teach me
- querer que + subjunctive is the standard Spanish pattern for expressing a desire that someone else do something. English uses an infinitive ('I want you to teach me'), but Spanish requires a full subordinate clause with the subjunctive after que.
- lo extraño que soy how strange I am
- lo + adjective + que + verb is a fixed Spanish construction expressing degree or intensity, equivalent to 'how [adjective] [subject] is.' For example, lo grande que es = 'how big it is.' The neuter lo nominalises the adjective.
- dime más que entienda tell me more so I can understand
- Here que functions as a conjunction of purpose or result, meaning 'so that.' The following verb entienda is in the present subjunctive because the outcome (understanding) is a desired goal, not a guaranteed fact.
- lo que es normal what is normal / that which is normal
- lo que is a neuter relative pronoun meaning 'what' or 'that which.' It introduces a noun clause and is one of the most common structures in Spanish. It cannot be replaced by el que or la que because it refers to an abstract concept rather than a specific noun.
- como mueve su ser how it moves her very being
- ser used as a noun (el ser) means 'being' or 'self' — the essence of a person. This is a poetic usage. In everyday speech ser is almost always a verb, so seeing it as a noun is a notable literary device.
- como nunca sentí like I've never felt before
- como nunca + past tense is an idiomatic intensifier meaning 'as never before' or 'like never before.' It implies the experience is unprecedented. The preterite sentí marks this as a completed, specific past feeling.
- me invita draws me / appeals to me / invites me
- invitar a + infinitive means 'to invite someone to do something' or 'to prompt/draw someone toward something.' The indirect object pronoun me shows who is being drawn in. This construction continues into line 14 with a estar junto a ella.
- Esta atracción me invita a estar This attraction draws me to be / invites me to be
- invitar a + infinitive spans lines 13 and 14. The preposition a is required by invitar before an infinitive complement. This verb-governed preposition (invitar a) is a pattern worth memorising: the verb demands a before the next action.
- junto a ella close to her / right beside her
- junto a is a fixed prepositional phrase meaning 'next to' or 'close to.' It is not the same as junto con, which means 'together with.' The phrase describes physical or emotional closeness.
- que hoy conocí that I experienced today
- conocer in the preterite (conocí) means 'to meet for the first time' or 'to experience/encounter for the first time,' not just 'to know.' This is a key distinction: saber = to know a fact; conocer = to know/be acquainted with a person, place, or experience.
- De un mundo son que jamás viví They are from a world I never lived in
- This line uses a poetic inversion: the normal word order would be 'son de un mundo que jamás viví.' In song lyrics, the prepositional phrase de un mundo is fronted for emphasis and rhyme. jamás is a stronger, more emphatic synonym of nunca ('never').
- detrás del behind the
- del is the mandatory contraction of de + el. Whenever the preposition de is followed by the masculine singular article el, they must contract to del. This rule has no exceptions (except when el is part of a proper name).
- ¿Qué habrá de nuevo What new things will there be / What's new
- habrá is the future of the impersonal haber, meaning 'there will be.' The phrase qué habrá de nuevo is an idiomatic way of asking 'what new things are in store' or 'what's new on the horizon.' De nuevo on its own usually means 'again,' but here it functions as an adjective meaning 'new/novel.'
- te mostraré I will show you
- mostrar is a verb meaning 'to show.' Here te is the indirect object pronoun ('to you'), placed before the conjugated verb. In Spanish, object pronouns precede finite verbs but attach to infinitives and imperatives.
- Ven conmigo Come with me
- conmigo is the special prepositional form of 'with me.' Spanish has three unique fused preposition+pronoun forms: conmigo (with me), contigo (with you), and consigo (with himself/herself/themselves). These cannot be split into con + mí/ti.
- contigo aquí with you here
- contigo is the fused form of 'with you' (con + ti → contigo). Like conmigo, it cannot be separated. aquí (here) adds a sense of immediacy and physical presence to the emotion being described.
- lo que siento yo what I feel
- The explicit subject pronoun yo is added here for emphasis or rhythmic stress — Spanish normally drops subject pronouns since the verb ending already indicates person. Its inclusion stresses that it is specifically the speaker's feeling being shared.
- Sígueme Follow me
- sígueme is the affirmative imperative of seguir with the clitic me attached. Note the accent on sí- to preserve the stress when the clitic is added. seguir can mean 'to follow,' 'to continue,' or 'to keep doing something' depending on context.
- con mi mano te guiaré I will guide you with my hand
- te here is the indirect object pronoun ('you'), placed before the future-tense verb guiaré. The structure con mi mano specifies the instrument of guiding. Note that Spanish uses the possessive mi mano where English might say 'by the hand.'
Vocabulary to learn from “Lo extraño que soy”
The words the song uses most.
- ser is verb ·16
- saber I know verb ·8
- querer I want / I love verb ·7
- extraño strange / odd adjective ·6
- decir tell me verb ·4
- sentir I feel / I sense verb ·4
- enseñar you teach verb ·3
- entender I understand verb ·3
- normal normal adjective ·3
- hacer you do / you make verb ·2
- aprender I will learn verb ·2
- haber there is / there are verb ·2
Verbs in the song, and the form being sung
Present tense for each; the highlighted row is the one you'll hear.
ser is
| yo | soy |
|---|---|
| tú | eres |
| él / ella / usted | es |
| nosotros | somos |
| vosotros | sois |
| ellos / ustedes | son |
saber I know
| yo | sé |
|---|---|
| tú | sabes |
| él / ella / usted | sabe |
| nosotros | sabemos |
| vosotros | sabéis |
| ellos / ustedes | saben |
querer I want / I love
| yo | quiero |
|---|---|
| tú | quieres |
| él / ella / usted | quiere |
| nosotros | queremos |
| vosotros | queréis |
| ellos / ustedes | quieren |
decir tell me
| yo | digo |
|---|---|
| tú | dices |
| él / ella / usted | dice |
| nosotros | decimos |
| vosotros | decís |
| ellos / ustedes | dicen |
sentir I feel / I sense
| yo | siento |
|---|---|
| tú | sientes |
| él / ella / usted | siente |
| nosotros | sentimos |
| vosotros | sentís |
| ellos / ustedes | sienten |
Grammar you'll meet in this song
- Present30
- Present subjunctive7
- Future6
- Imperative6
- Preterite3
