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There is a piece of song lyric I cannot understand: "切ない胸さえ" (せつないむねさえ)

I gathered from this source http://japanesetest4you.com/flashcard/learn-jlpt-n3-grammar-さえ-sae/ and others that さえ means "even", which would make this sentence something like "Even a broken heart". But I don't really understand it in context and wonder if perhaps there is another use for it here?

The full lyrics can be found here, for more context: http://www.kasi-time.com/item-38646.html (it's on the 6th line). (Perhaps I do not even understand the surrounding lyrics enough).

Thank you.

フローレンス
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1 Answers1

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This looks like a case of a sentence fragment/phrase used out of grammatical order to supplement the preceding expression (see: is this sentence gramatically correct? "ano ko ga futteita makka na sukaafu")

As far as the whole of the expression goes:

恋は届かない時を 経験するうちに 強くなってゆくものだね　切ない胸さえ

Let's rearrange it a bit:

恋は届かない時を 経験するうちに 切ない胸さえ 強くなってゆくものだね

...my sense of parsing tells me that that phrase actually belongs here.

Part of the reason this might occur is to highlight a specific portion of the lyrics with the music, or to make the lyrics line up with the music, that sometimes 100% perfect standard is changed into another tone.

Alternatively, this happens in speech sometimes, when speaking about a feeling or an action, colloquially, sometimes explaining comes first then does the subject. So, considering the translation, you might look at it as:

恋は届かない時を 経験するうちに 強くなってゆくものだね　切ない胸さえ
The experience of love not reaching (that person) can make you stronger, even (fix/make strong) a broken heart

Sounds a little funny, but in the normal order:

恋は届かない時を 経験するうちに 切ない胸さえ 強くなってゆくものだね
The experience of love not reaching (that person) can make even a broken heart stronger

That sounds a little more like what that's attempting to convey, doesn't it?

psosuna
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