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I am trying to understand the lyrics of Rolf Zuckowski’s song Achterbahn, whose very last part says (full text):

Die Kinder groß, das Haus wird leer,
auf einmal Zeit für soviel mehr.
Zu zweit allein, ganz ungeübt,
das lernt man schon, wenn man sich liebt.

Der Mann wird alt und ist verknallt.

I understand all the words, but the last line isn’t clear: The man gets old and is .. infatuated? crazy? in love? I’m stuck on verknallt.

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  • Infatuated is a good match, but a slightly higher register, I tink. duden.de/rechtschreibung/verknallt
    – Carsten S
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 12:31
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    "Verknallt" is not a word typically used for an old man. So either Zuckowski wanted to emphasize the silliness or the freshness of the old man's love, or he simply needed an adjective that rhymes with "alt".
    – user568
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 13:21

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"Verknallt = in love" is correct. It's usually used for the initial fresh love, pink-tinted glasses phase. "Verliebt" / possibly unreturned, new and not-yet-matured feeling as opposed to "lieben" / stable, deep long term emotion.

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