voici

French

Etymology

Literally, “look here”. From vois (“see!, look!”), second-person singular imperative of voir (“to see, to look”) and ici (“here”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vwa.si/
  • (file)

Verb

voici (defective)

  1. here is
    Voici le fromage.
    Here's the cheese.

Usage notes

  • Voici is a defective verb; its only conjugation is in the present indicative tense, even though it can appear in phrases that imply another tense.
  • As a verb, it can take direct object pronouns:
    Tu m’as appelé, me voici! ― You called me, and here I am!
  • It can also occur in relative clauses:
    l’homme que voici ― the man who is here/this man (right) here
  • It is used to designate a person or object near the speaker, in contrast to voilà which is mainly used to introduce a slightly distant person or object.
  • In face-to-face conversations where both participants can see the subject of the conversation, voici is often replaced by voilà.

Derived terms

Preposition

voici

  1. ago
    Synonym: il y a
    Il est parti voici trois jours. ― He left three days ago.

See also

Further reading

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