I was reading through the lyrics in 'Bringst du mich heute Nacht nach Hause' by Michelle
She sings: "Denn heute Nacht da brauch ich einen Freund"
How is Denn being used in the final verse? I'm confused because it follows shortly after with 'Da' and it doesn't sound right to have two conjunctions so close together. What would the closest translation of this be to English?
She sings:
Denn heute Nacht , da brauch ich einen Freund.
Because tonight, that night I need a friend.
Note the comma. Heute Nacht and da is a list. Split it into two sentences:
Denn heute Nacht brauch ich einen Freund.
Denn da brauch ich einen Freund.
This isn't the conjuction da but the adverb da, a substitution for heute Nacht. In the original sentence, it emphasizes heute Nacht.
How to guess that? Because if it was the conjunction da, the following part of the sentence had to be a subordinate clause, using another word order pattern:
Denn heute Nacht, da ich einen Freund brauch, … .
Denn simply means because.
Denn heute Nacht brauch ich einen Freund
and
Denn heute Nacht, da brauch ich einen Freund
mean exactly the same thing.
The adverb da can mean:
in this place, there, here, at that time, at that moment, under these circumstances
This is similar to the sentence
Auf der Alm, do gibt's koa Sünd' (Auf der Alm, da gibt es keine Sünde)
In most cases, the construction with da is found in lyrical texts (poems, song texts and the like) to stay in the rhythm.
