1 – Bonjour et bienvenue!
Grammaire: Voici VS. Il y a
Here is / here are VS. There is / there are
Voici and il y a are two ways of introducing nouns. They are translated into English as ‘here is / here are‘ or ‘there is / there are.’
voici (& voilà)
Voici + noun and voilà + noun are commonly translated as ‘here is/are + noun‘.
These two expressions are often used to indicate the sudden appearance of something or someone. They can also be used 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. |
When there are two elements to point out, start with voici.
When introducing someone to another person, use voici.
il y a
Il y a + noun usually indicates the existence of a person or a thing within the context of a particular setting that has been established earlier in the sentence or conversation.
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’.
