The French Expression VoilÃÂ

Pronunciation: [vwa la] Register: normal, informal Even though voilà   is just one word, it has so many possible meanings—most of which require multiple words in the English equivalents—that weve decided to treat it as an expression. The first thing to know about voilà   is that its spelled voilà  . Please note that the grave accent on the a is obligatory. (See common misspellings at the end of this article.) Secondly, voilà  , which is a contraction of vois là   (literally, see there), has varied uses and meanings, which are hard to define precisely, so weve provided numerous examples to help make the distinctions clear. Here, There Voilà   can be a presentative which introduces a visible noun or group of nouns and can mean any of the following: here is, here are, there is, there are. It is somewhat similar to another French expression: tiens. Technically, voilà   only refers to things that are farther away (there is/are), while voici is used for close things (here is/are), but in reality voilà   tends to be used for all of the above, except when a distinction between two objects is required.   Voilà   la voiture que je veux acheter. Here/There is the car I want to buy.  Me voilà  ! Here I am!  Le voilà  ! Here it/he is! There it/he is!  Voici mon livre et voilà   le tien. Heres my book and theres yours. This, That. Explanation When followed by an interrogative adverb or indefinite relative pronoun, voilà   takes on an explanatory meaning and translates as this/that is. In this case, it becomes synonymous with cest.   Voilà   oà ¹ il habite maintenant.  This is where he lives now.  Voilà   ce que nous devons faire. This is what we have to do.  Voilà   pourquoi je suis parti. Thats why I left/That is the reason (why) I left.  Voilà   ce quils mont dit. Thats what they told me. Filler Voilà   is commonly used as a sort of summing up expression at the end of a statement. This is usually just a filler and doesnt have a simple English equivalent. In some cases, you could say you know, OK, or there you have it, but in general we just leave it out of the English translation. Nous avons dà ©cidà © dacheter une nouvelle voiture et de donner lancienne à   notre fils, voilà  . We decided to buy a new car and give the old one to our son.On va commencer avec ma prà ©sentation, suivie dune visite du jardin et puis le dà ©jeuner, voilà  . Were going to start with my presentation, followed by a visit to the garden, and then lunch. How Long Voilà   can be an informal replacement for depuis or il y a when talking about how long something has been going on or how long ago something happened. Voilà   20 minutes que je suis ici. Ive been here for 20 minutes.Nous avons mangà © voilà   trois heures. We ate three hours ago. Thats Right Voilà   can be used to agree with what someone just said, along the lines of thats right or thats it exactly. (Synonym: en effet) Alors, si jai bien compris, vous voulez acheter sept cartes postales mais seulement quatre timbres. So if Ive understood correctly, you want to buy seven postcards but only four stamps.Voilà  . Thats right. Now Youve Done It Et voilà   is commonly used, especially when talking to children, after youve warned them about something and they do it anyway, causing the very problem you tried to prevent. Not quite as mocking as I told you so, but along the lines: I warned you, you should have listened, etc. Non, arrà ªte, cest trop lourd pour toi, tu vas le faire tomber...et voilà  . No, stop, thats too heavy for you, youre going to drop it...and you did/I warned you. Spelling Notes Voilà   is sometimes used in English, and for this reason, its often written voila. This is acceptable in English, which tends to lose accents on words borrowed from other languages, but its not acceptable in French. There are several other common misspellings: Voilà ¡ has the wrong accent. The only letter that ever has an acute accent in French is e, as in à ©tà © (summer).Viola is a word, though not a French one: a viola is a musical instrument slightly larger than a violin; the French translation is alto. Viola is also a female name.Vwala is an Anglicized spelling of voilà  .Walla or wallah? Not even close. Please, use voilà  .