If I Were a Boy
Beyoncé
How to study this song
Learning “If I Were a Boy” means 54 entries at A1+ — 13 English words, 6 adjectives and 35 verb forms, every one taken from what the song actually says. Start with the glossary: boy and day come up again and again, so they are the ones to know first. This one leans on its verbs: 35 distinct forms against 6 adjectives, so conjugation is where the effort goes. At this level the goal is recognition: hear a word, place it, keep going.
The words of this song, in several languages
Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.
Vocabulary
| EN | ES | IT | FR | PT | NL | DE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| boy | chico | ragazzo | garçon | rapaz | jongen | Junge |
| day | día | giorno | jour | dia | dag | Tag |
This card holds 11 more words. You meet them when you play the song.
Adjectives
| EN | ES | IT | FR |
|---|
What this song teaches you
Level · A1+
- Vocabulary words
- 13
- Adjectives
- 6
- Word combos
- 9
- Expressions
- 14
- Verb forms
- 37
- Quiz questions
- 35
Background
About the song
«If I Were a Boy» is a pop and R&B ballad recorded by the American singer Beyoncé for her third studio album, «I Am... Sasha Fierce», released by Columbia in 2008. It was written by the singer-songwriter BC Jean, whose real name is Brittany Jean Carlson, together with the German-born producer Toby Gad, and it was produced by Gad and Beyoncé. Both Wikipedia and Songwriting Magazine point out that it is the only song on the album that Beyoncé did not help to write.
The idea came from a real heartbreak. BC Jean told Songwriting Magazine that she was about twenty and living in New York when she discovered that her boyfriend had been unfaithful. During a lunch break near Times Square she joked that life would be easier as a boy, and Gad, who liked to record any unusual remark, asked her to sing the thought into his recorder. Back in the studio the whole song was finished in less than half an hour. Jean has called it the easiest song she has ever written.
Jean wanted to release the song herself, but, according to Wikipedia, her record company turned down her version, and Gad offered it to bigger names. Beyoncé heard the demo and decided to record it. Jean was at first unhappy to see another singer take such a personal story and said so on her MySpace page, but she later explained that the success of the song made it worth it, because many young women recognised themselves in it.
In the United States the song went to radio on 8 October 2008 as a double A-side with «Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)». The two singles were chosen to show the two sides of the album: the quiet, emotional «I Am...» disc, which «If I Were a Boy» opens, and the louder, playful «Sasha Fierce» disc, named after Beyoncé's stage alter ego. The arrangement is simple: acoustic guitar, piano, live drums and strings, with a melody that builds from a soft verse to a powerful chorus. The album version lasts four minutes and nine seconds.
The lyric is built on one imagined situation. The narrator, a woman, pictures what she would do if she could live as a man for just one day. She imagines waking up late, going out with friends, flirting freely and never having to explain herself, because other men would always defend her. In the second part she says she would switch off her phone, lie about where she was and set her own rules, sure that her partner would stay loyal and wait at home.