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)

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.
• 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.

Preposition

voici

1. ago

   Il est parti voici trois jours. ― He left three days ago.

   Synonym: il y a

See also

• revoici
• voilà

Further reading

• “voici”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.