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voilà

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: voila and voilá

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French voilà.

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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voilà

  1. Lo, there it is; see here; ta-da; presto; behold!

Synonyms

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Translations

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Wells, John C. (2008) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd edition, Longman, →ISBN

Anagrams

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French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Literally, look there. From vois (see!, look!), second-person singular imperative of voir (to see, to look) and (there).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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voilà (defective)

  1. there (it) is, there (it) comes
    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, En attendant Godot:
      Voilà l’homme tout entier, s’en prenant à sa chaussure alors que c’est son pied le coupable.
      There is man in his entirety, blaming his shoe when his foot is guilty.
  2. here (it) is, here (it) comes
    Voilà le fromage.
    Here's the cheese.
    Voilà ce qu'on va faire ensuite.
    Here's what we are going to do next.
  3. that is (introduces something one has said, whereas voici something one is about to
    Voilà ce que je lui ai demandé, et voici sa réponse : « ... »
    That's what I asked her and this is her answer: "..."
  4. expresses something completed; used with pronouns, can serve as a loose copula
    Voilà qui est fait.
    That's done/That's over with.
    Me voilà fini!I'm done for!
  5. expresses the unexpected or abrupt nature of an event
    Comme nous étions à la promenade, voilà qu’une ondée vint à tomber.
    As we were taking a walk, a huge rainshower suddenly began to fall.

Usage notes

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  • voilà 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 can take direct object pronouns:
    La voilà!There she is/comes!
    Eh ben, nous voilà dans de beaux draps.Well, we're in trouble.
  • Indirect object pronouns:
    Nous voilà encore plus de pain sur la planche.
    We've got even more work to do.
    (literally, “There is even more work to do for us.”)
    Et lui voilà pas arrivée toute sa famille.
    And then comes her whole family.
    (literally, “And there comes to her/for her her whole family.”)
    where lui is here merely used as an ethical dative
  • As well as partitive and locative pronouns (en and y)
    “Tu vois les joueurs ?”, “Oui, en voilà un.”“Have you seen the players?”, “Yes, there comes one of them.”
    Nous y voilà !At least, here we are! (used as an expression of relief)
  • It can also occur in relative clauses:
    l'homme que voilàthe man who is there/that man (right) there
  • It is mainly used to introduce a slightly distant person or object, in contrast to voici which is used to designate a person or object near the speaker.
  • In face-to-face conversations where both participants can see the subject of the conversation, voilà often supersedes voici (thus its additional definition: Here is).
  • When voici and voilà are interchangeable, the former can be taken as of a higher register than the latter; voici is also altogether rarer in day-to-day conversation:
    • Voici la porte is a polite way to tell someone where the exit is whereas,
    • Voilà la porte could in some cases be considered rude and roughly translated as an invitation to leave.

Derived terms

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Preposition

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voilà

  1. it has been, ago
    Synonyms: voici, il y a
    Voilà trois jours que je l'ai pas vue.It's been three days since I last saw her.
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Indonesian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French voilà (literally look there).

Interjection

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voilà

  1. voilà, there it is; see here; ta-da; presto; behold!
    Synonym: ini dia

Further reading

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Italian

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Interjection

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voilà

  1. voilà

Anagrams

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Polish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French voilà.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /vwaˈla/
  • Rhymes: -a
  • Syllabification: voi‧là

Interjection

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voilà

  1. behold, voilà, woe!

Further reading

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  • voilà in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French voilà.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /bwaˈla/ [bwaˈla]
  • Rhymes: -a

Interjection

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voilà

  1. Alternative form of vualá

Usage notes

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According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.