Disney En Français! 7 French Disney Songs with Lessons in the Lyrics

“If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you’ll learn things you never knew you never knew.”

Many lessons come from our beloved Disney songs, like Pocahontas’s “Colors of the Wind,” which teaches us to embrace other cultures.

Many Disney songs in French lyrics are packed with lessons any language learner will appreciate.

Sing your heart out to these classic Disney songs while getting closer to fluency with every verse!

Contents

• Why Learn French with Disney Songs?
• Sing Your Way to Fluency with the Lyrics of 7 Disney Songs in French
• • “Je voudrais déjà être roi” (“I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”) from “The Lion King”
  • “Je veux savoir” (“Strangers Like Me”) from “Tarzan”
  • “Jamais je n’avouerai” (“I Won’t Say I’m In Love”) from “Hercules”
  • “Comme un homme” (“I’ll Make a Man Out of You”) from “Mulan”
  • “Je veux y croire” (“I See the Light”) from “Tangled”
  • “Belle” from “Beauty and the Beast”
  • “Au bout du rêve” (“Almost There”) from “The Princess and the Frog”

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Why Learn French with Disney Songs?

Music is an excellent tool to study French, as songs have a way of getting stuck in our heads, allowing us to better remember new vocabulary and grammar.

Plus, learning through song is a lot of fun, which keeps you engaged and excited to study.

Disney songs in particular are helpful, as chances are you’ve seen the films a hundred times and already know the stories and songs. That means you won’t get lost and can easily contextualize the new words you’re hearing.

Plus, since they’re geared towards younger audiences, they typically feature basic vocabulary and grammar that even beginner French learners shouldn’t have too much trouble with. They’re also short enough to give you some great language practice without taking up too much of your time.

Since Disney movies are extremely popular, they’ve all been translated into French. You have all the options you could ever want for some fun, animated French sing-alongs. Most of the French versions of Disney songs are available on YouTube, giving you easy and free access to both the music and the French lyrics with their English translations.

Sing Your Way to Fluency with the Lyrics of 7 Disney Songs in French

Here are seven French Disney songs guaranteed to teach you French and entertain you—happy singing!

“Je voudrais déjà être roi” (“I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”) from “The Lion King”

Read the lyrics in French on LetsSingIt.

My first ever film in theaters, “The Lion King” is among nearly everyone’s favorite Disney movies and if you’re like me, one of the first you saw as a kid.

Not only is this a movie that kids usually start with, but it should also be one that all French learners start with. The songs like “Je voudrais déjà roi” are great ones for beginners.

Almost all of the grammatical constructions and vocabulary in the lyrics are simple, making it easy for newbies to study.

Plus, this song will greatly help you with your French pronunciation and new sounds you’ve begun to encounter, as there are loads of rhyming words present.

For example, listen to the pronunciation of the line, “c’est la première fois que je vois un roi“ (“it’s the first time that I see a king”) and you’ll begin to notice how to pronounce the oi sound in French.

Also great for beginners is the plethora of useful French adjectives that show up in the song, like peu (little), vieille (old) and nouveau (new).

Truly, this is the perfect song for new learners.

“Je veux savoir” (“Strangers Like Me”) from “Tarzan”

Read the lyrics in French on LyricsTranslate.

Who among us doesn’t love the songs from “Tarzan?” The fact that Phil Collins also sings all of the French versions is the cherry on top!

“Je veux savoir” has lots of good French grammar lessons in it, like a heavy load of imperative sentences. The repeated lyrics montre-les-moi (show them to me) and apprends-moi (teach me) are perfect examples of this.

The song also calls attention to the appropriate use of direct objects, like in the phrases je le ferais (I would do it) and montre-les-moi (show them to me).

Finally, the song has tons of French possessives in it so you can see how and when to use those. Good examples include “viens voir ce monde qui est le mien“ (“come see my world“) and “prends ma main“ (“take my hand“).

“Jamais je n’avouerai” (“I Won’t Say I’m In Love”) from “Hercules”

Read the lyrics in French on LyricsTranslate.

We all admire Meg’s spunk in “Hercules,” and this is my personal favorite song from the whole movie.

As a perk, it’s full of good French lessons like a 101 crash course in negatives, with lines such as “non, non jamais” (“no, no never”) and “je n’avoeurai, non, non” (“I will not confess, no, no”).

Additionally, you’ll continue your lesson in direct objects with lines like “je ne le dirai” (“I will not say it“) and “tu l’aimes et c’est normal” (“you like him and that’s normal”).

Lastly, this song is full of conjunctions, both basic ones like “car tu l’aimes” (“because you like him”) and subordinate ones like “mêmes si tu nies” (“even if you deny”).

“Comme un homme” (“I’ll Make a Man Out of You”) from “Mulan”

Read the lyrics in French on Paroles Musique.

This is surely one of the ones you’ve been waiting for, as it’s one of Disney’s best—and for all us ladies, we feel so empowered when Mulan retrieves the medal from the post at the end—girl power!

There’s much to be learned from “Comme un homme” in the way of French lessons, as the lyrics use almost every French tense including the present, future, conditional and subjunctive.

While you may recognize some more easily than others, try to pay attention to the differences between conditional and future words, like je saurai (I will know) and j’aurais (I would have).

The subjunctive is another one to look out for, as this is probably rarer in Disney songs given that it’s a bit of a tougher tense to master. It turns up in this song a few times, like in the line “sois plus ardent que le feu des volcans” (“burns more than volcanic fire”).

Another excellent lesson you’ll get from this song is an overview of comparative structures, like in the lines “soit plus puissant que les ouragans” (“be more powerful than hurricanes”) and “plus fragiles que des fillettes” (“more fragile than little girls”).

Lastly, you’ll gain exposure to tons of great verbs in this song, such as attaquer (to attack), frapper (to hit) and nager (to swim).

“Je veux y croire” (“I See the Light”) from “Tangled”

Read the lyrics in French on LyricsTranslate.

One of the sweetest and newer Disney songs, “Je veux y croire” is both gorgeous and full of helpful French lessons.

For one, the lyrics include the use of many different prepositions like “ma vie est à l’endroit” (“my life is here”) and “je veux croire en nous” (“I believe in us”), showing you when and how to use them.

Secondly, the vocabulary you get from this song is truly amazing. You’ll learn unique words like éclairé (enlightened or illuminated), scintillent (sparkle or twinkle) and la brume (the mist).

Gaining exposure to more advanced vocabulary is great, but the lesson continues with introductions to advanced ways of using negatives, such as “sans voir, ni comprendre” (“without seeing nor understanding”).

“Belle” from “Beauty and the Beast”

Read the lyrics in French on Paroles Music.

As this beloved story takes place in France and even the English lyrics contain some French to begin with, you should definitely take the time to learn the full French version of the song, “Belle.”

For starters, due to the movie’s French setting, the lyrics have lots of vocabulary that’s typical of what you’d hear on real French streets, like bonjour (hello), mademoiselle (Miss) and le boulanger (the baker).

Aside from that really cool aspect of the song, it’s full of very useful French phrases that you’ll need in everyday French life like ça ne fait rien (it doesn’t matter), depuis hier (since yesterday) and non, hélas (no, alas).

Lastly, there are loads of examples of the French compound past tense, le passé composé, in this song, such as “je l’ai dévoré en une nuit” (“I devoured it in one night”) and “tu l’as déjà lu deux fois” (“you already read it two times”).

As le passé composé can be tricky for new French learners, it’s great to make use of this song to practice how to form the construction and when to use this tense.

“Au bout du rêve” (“Almost There”) from “The Princess and the Frog”

Read the lyrics in French on Lyrics Translate.

Another awesome Disney film with some French culture from the English speaking side of the world, “The Princess and the Frog” takes place in good ol’ New Orleans and as such, it’s only fitting you learn one of the songs from this film in French.

As for language lessons, the lyrics in “Au bout du rêve” are loaded with verbs in the future tense like j’irai (I will go), tu réussiras (you will succeed) and je travaillerai (I will work).

Not only will you get an introductory course in the future tense, but you’ll also further practice when and how to use direct objects.

Good examples of this include the lines “Et j’irai toujours, toujours de l’avant” (“I will always be in front of it“) and “je les soulève” (“I lift them“).

Lastly, you’ll sing along to a lot of commands like “n’épargne pas tes efforts” (“don’t spare your effort”) and “fais-le avec amour” (“do it with love”), which will help you practice using imperative sentences.

With this list, you’re well off to singing your way to French fluency through your Disney favorites.

If you love the idea of learning a language through songs, don’t just stop with these tunes. Explore the world of French music and see how much you can learn. You’re bound to find songs that are as informative as they are meaningful.

Search for French music on YouTube and jump down the rabbit-hole. For a more learner-friendly approach, there’s the language learning program FluentU. Its library of authentic French videos include songs and movie clips. Since there are interactive subtitles and transcripts for each video, you could sing along and learn French vocabulary at the same time.

Once you find songs and artists that you like, listening to French music can get addictive.

Don’t hesitate to start learning now, but think as Hercules sings, “I know every mile will be worth my while” and “go the distance!”

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)