i-dle had us waiting quite long for their new EP ‘We Made’ but after the pre-release single ‘Crow’ three weeks ago we finally got it and with it the title track ‘Gimme Dat Love’. Listening to the song and watching the video it is understandable why they haven’t released it earlier in April or May, this is a summer song if there ever was one, hot and sultry like a humid summer day. Let’s see if the video survives censorship (one of the teasers for the MV was apparently taken down by chinese SNS).

The song is all about falling in love and the attraction between to lovers. I want to take a closer look at this line: 

사랑은 Cold 난 못 참지

음악이 멎기 전 조용히

Come gimme that

LO-O-O-O-VE

sarangeun Cold nan mot chamji

eumagi meotgi jeon joyonghi

• 사랑은
  • 사랑 – Love
  • -은 – Sentence topic marker
• Cold 

So: ‘Love is cold’ or, if we want to exaggerate the topic marker you could also say: `Concerning love, it is cold`.

But this is just what the protagonist wants, because:

• 난 – short for 나는
  • 나 – I
  • -는 – again the sentence topic marker, if it comes after a vowel, it is -는, after a consonant it is -은
• 못 – this adverb negates the verb that follows it, best translated with `cannot`
• 참지 – from 참다: to endure, withstand, be patient
  • -지: a sentence-final ending, used among friends or equals, which conveys that the listener already knows what is said.

The next line gives aus a condition:

• 음악이
  • 음악: Music
  • -이: subject marker
• 멎기
  • 멎다: to come to a stop (verb)
  • -기: this suffix makes the preceding verb a noun -> the end of the music
• 전: before (前)
• 조용히 – quietly (adverb form of the verb 조용하다)

So: `quietly before the end of the music`

And then: Come gimme that love!

The construction of `음악이 멎기 전 조용히` is something you might struggle with, but this is typical. Korean verbs are extremely versatile and can be changed into nouns or adverbs / adjectives easily by using different suffixes.

How do you like i-dle’s new song, was the wait worth it (for me definitively, I’m here for all of their releases).