nous voilà
The English phrase "here we come" is translated into French as nous voilà.
nous voilà is an idiomatic expression used to announce one's arrival at a destination. It is often used with an exclamation mark to signal an enthusiastic or sudden arrival.
Which one should you use?
While nous arrivons literally means "we are arriving", nous voilà is the idiomatic way to announce one's presence upon arrival. For a different meaning, you can use On arrive ! to mean "We are coming!" in an informal way.
How does it change in a sentence?
To say "here you come" when addressing a group, change the pronoun nous to vous to form vous voilà.
Did you know?
- The word voilà is actually a command meaning 'look there'. It is formed by combining the imperative of 'to see', which is vois, with the adverb là, meaning 'there'.
- In some French dialects, the singular 'I', je, is used to mean 'we', a linguistic habit that was historically mocked in literature as sounding like a peasant.
Examples in context
- Nous voilà !Here we come!This example shows how to use nous voilà to announce an arrival.Tatoeba #11619 by sacredceltic, translation #3343500 by Alkrasnov
- Préparez-vous, chers invités, car nous voilà !Get ready, dear guests, because here we come!
- Préparez-vous à faire la fête ce soir, on arrive !Get ready to party tonight, here we come!
- Nous voilà enfin arrivés !Here we are finally!
- Regarde, nous voilà !Look, here we come!
Example conversation
Hugo and Manon arrive at a party together.
- HugoOn sonne à la porte, nous voilà !I'm ringing the bell, here we come!
- ManonJ'espère qu'ils sont prêts.I hope they are ready.
- HugoIls ouvrent la porte.They are opening the door.
- ManonAllez, entrons !Come on, let's go in!
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries nous, voilà, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
