Amor Prohibido, meaning forbidden love, is a arguably Selena Quintanilla’s greatest hit song. Released in 1994, the song became one of the most successful Spanish-language songs of all time. This post explains the vocabulary and grammar of the Spanish lyrics.

Amor Prohibido

Amor Prohibido lyrics

Con unas ansias locas
With a crazy desire
Quiero verte hoy
I want to see you today
Espero ese momento en que escuche tu voz
I wait for that moment when I hear your voice

Y cuando al fin estemos juntos los dos
And when we are finally together

Que importa que diran
What does it matter what they say?
Tu padre y tu mama
Your father and mother
Aqui solo importa nuesto amor
Here, only our love matters
Te quiero
love you

(Chorus)
Amor prohibido murmuran por las calles
They whisper about forbidden love in the streets
Porque somos de distintas sociedades
Because we come from different societies
Amor prohibido nos dice todo el mundo
Everyone tells us about forbidden love

El dinero no importa en ti ni en mi
Money doesn’t matter to you or me
Ni en el corazon oh, oh baby
Not even in the heart, oh, oh baby

Aunque soy pobre
Even though I’m poor
Todo esto que te doy
All this I give you
Vale mas que el dinero
Is worth more than money
Porque si es amor
Because it’s love

Y cuando al fin estemos juntos los dos
And when we are finally together

Que importa que dira, tambien la sociedad
What does it matter what society says?
Aqui solo importa nuestro amor
Here, only our love matters
Te quiero
I love you

(Chorus repeats two times)

El dinero no importa en ti ni en mi
Money doesn’t matter to you or me
Ni en el corazon oh
Not even in the heart, oh
El dinero no importa en ti ni en mi
Money doesn’t matter to you or me
Solo el nuestro amor
Only our love

Spanish lyrics vocabulary and grammar

Con unas ansias locas

This line translates to “With a crazy desire”. In Spanish unos/unas is an indefinite article meaning “some” or “a few”. The feminine noun ansia can translate to longing, yearning, thirst and anxiety.

Quiero verte hoy

This line translates to “I want to see you today”. Quiero is the first-person singular form of the verb querer (to like, to love).

Espero ese momento en que escuche tu voz
This line translates to “I wait for that moment when I hear your voice”. Ese + noun in Spanish translates to “that + noun.

En que is a preposition which translates literally to “in which”. Escuche is the subjunctive form of the verb escuchar (to listen).

Y cuando al fin estemos juntos los dos

This line translates to “And when we are finally together”. Al fin is an adverbial phrase meaning “finally”. Estemos is the subjunctive form of estar (to be).

Que importa que diran

This line translates to “What does it matter what they say?” Translations for the verb importar include to be important (or of importance) and to matter.

Aqui solo importa nuesto amor

This line translates to “Here, only our love matters”. Nuestro (our) is a possessive adjective (my, your, his, her, etc.)

Amor prohibido murmuran por las calles

This line translates to “They whisper about forbidden love in the streets”. Translations for prohibido include prohibited, forbidden and banned. The verb murmurar means to whisper, murmur and mutter. The preposition por has many meanings and usages including for and by.

Porque somos de distintas sociedades

This line translates to “Because we come from different societies”. Somos is the first-person plural form or ser (to be). The adjective distinto is a false cognate and means different.

Amor prohibido nos dice todo el mundo

This line translates to “Everyone tells us about forbidden love”. Nos is an object pronoun that translates to “to us”. Dice is the third-person singular form of decir (to say).

El dinero no importa en ti ni en mi

This line translates to “Money doesn’t matter to you or me”. Ti and mi in Spanish are prepositional pronouns meaning me and you.

Ni en el corazon oh

This line translates to “Not even in the heart, oh, oh baby”. The conjunction ni translates to both “not even” and nor.

Discover more songs

• Bidi Bidi Bom Bom (Selena)
• Como la Flor (Selena)
• Querida (Juan Gabriel)
• La Bamba
• Por Tu Maldito Amor (Vicente Fernández)

Reference

Amor Prohibido (Wikipedia)