1 – Bonjour et bienvenue!
Grammaire: 1.5 – Voilà vs. Il y a
There is / there are vs. Here is / here are
Il y a and voilà are two ways of introducing nouns. They are translated into English as ‘there is / there are‘ or ‘here is / here are.’
il y a
Il y a + noun usually indicates the existence of a person or a thing in the context of a particular setting.
It is commonly translated as ‘there is‘ or ‘there are.’ For example:
| À Austin, il y a une grande université. | In Austin, there is a big university. |
The negation of ‘il y a‘ is il n‘y a pas, ‘there is / are not’:
| Il y a des pingouins en Antarctique!
À Austin, il n‘y a pas de [1] pingouin! |
There are penguins in Antarctica!
In Austin, there are no penguins. |
voilà / voici
Voilà + noun and voici + noun are commonly translated as ‘here is/are‘.
They are used to indicate the sudden appearance of something or someone, to introduce people or ideas. Alternating between voici and voilà is common when referring to more than one item.
| Voici la bibliothèque et voilà la célèbre tour! | Tammy is showing the campus to Tex: Here is the library, and there is the famous Tower. |
| Tex, voici Joe-Bob et Corey … et voilà Edouard qui arrive. | Tammy introduces Tex: Tex, here is Joe-Bob and Corey … and there comes Edouard. |
- Remember: All indefinite articles (un, un, des) become de/d' in a negative sentence ↵
