French Question - "àl'homme"?

Question

There is a line in a song I can't understand because of the phrase "à l'homme".

The line is, "Rien n'est jamais acquis à l'homme" - what does it mean?

I'm guessing it's something like... nothing can be aquired through men?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Rien n'est jamais acquis à l'homme. Ni sa force

Ni sa faiblesse ni son cœur. Et quand il croit

Ouvrir ses bras son ombre est celle d'une croix

Et quand il croit serrer son bonheur il le broie

Sa vie est un étrange et douloureux divorce.

Nothing is certain for mankind. Man can take nothing for granted.

Aragon wrote another song with the same sentiment: "Rien n'est certain dans la vie..."

Answer 2

it means:

nothing never is obtained to the man

Answer 3

It's a great song,the title is "Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux" by Georges Brassens,watch it on utube.com.

"Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux" means "there is no happy love",

A l'homme means "to the man" ,the full sentence is " Rien n'est jamais acquis a l'homme,ni sa force,ni sa faiblesse ."  wich means "Nothing is granted to man,neither is strenght,nor his weakness."

It's a sad song about love and knowing to late how to love in life.

Answer 4

I don't like getting homos

Answer 5

http://www.freetranslation.com/

Answer 6

The problem lies in trying to literally translate the phrase word for word.  

Try looking at it this way:

"Man never holds anything for good." or "Nothing is sure for man."

It is describing the uncertainty and unpredictability of life.

You may like this:

also: http://brassenswithenglish.blogspot.com/... translates the entire song.

which gives a translation of the entire song.

Answer 7

Pretty much everyone who answered your question is obviously not fluent in French. "acquis à" means acquired/gained/earned by or for. So "Rien n'est jamais acquis à l'homme" means there is nothing that man can take as a given. Nothing is certain in life.  

Answer 8

i think l'homme is man in which case i would say you are right

Answer 9

“Nothing is never acquired with the man”

Answer 10

in this case homme would mean mankind. It means that mankind should never take anything for granted, something like that.