voilà

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See also: voila and voilá

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French voilà.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /vwæˈlɑː/, /vwɑːˈlɑː/, /vwʌˈlɑː/
  • (US) IPA(key): /(v)wɑˈlɑ/
  • (file)

Interjection

voilà

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

Synonyms

Translations

References

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

Anagrams

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Verb

voilà (defective)

  1. there (it) is
    • 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
    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
    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
    Voilà qui est fait.
    That's done/That's over with.
  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

  • 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.
  • As a verb, it can take direct object pronouns:
    La voilà!There she is!
  • 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).

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

Italian

Interjection

voilà

  1. voilà

Anagrams

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French voilà.

Pronunciation

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

Interjection

voilà

  1. behold, voilà, woe!

Further reading

  • voilà in Polish dictionaries at PWN