Meaning of the phrase faire tout bas

I'm attempting to translate the beautiful France Gall song "La déclaration" (both the song and France are beautiful).

I get as far as the third line when she sings

Je rêve que je te fais tout bas

Literally this doesn't make sense - there must be a phrase "faire tout bas"?

Can anybody enlighten me please?

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 2, 2009 at 9:49am

Hello Ian,

It means "to whisper".

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 2, 2009 at 10:32am

Just listened to the song in order to get the context. And indeed "je te fais tout bas une déclaration" means "I'm whispering a statement of love to you".

For the record, here is the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WD0oa-0oXQ

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Permalink Reply by Ian Thompson on August 3, 2009 at 7:43am

Many thanks for your responses. Let's see what line 4 brings!

PS She is beautiful is she not - even now at the age of 62!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 2, 2009 at 10:06am

"faire" is an informal way of saying... to say.

Il m'a fait "bonjour, comment ça va ?"
He was like "Hi, how is it going?"

Once again, it's informal. Not slang, and this is something you will hear a lot in real speech. But this is not something you should usually write. If you somehow "sweeten" the verb using something like "doucement" or "tout bas", it's acceptable in any context. If use is as-is, it might sound uneducated.
So you have to know that "faire" can also mean "to say", because you will hear it, but don't say it if your level in French isn't advanced.

Another thing you might stumble upon is "être là". It also means "to say". We sometimes use it while telling a story.

Hier, Paul avait bu trop d'alcool et il était là: "je suis amoureux de toutes les filles du monde!"

This is considered bad French (not vulgar, but definitely informal), you should never write this, but you will hear it a lot, especially from young people talking to each other.