voici
French
Etymology
From vois (“see!, look!”), second-person singular imperative of voir (“to see, to look”) and ici (“here”), literally meaning "look here!".
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vwa.si/
audio (file)
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.
- 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.
Synonyms
Further reading
- “voici” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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