Mal

[wet berry]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[rich elk]

Voici is more of a "here is" than a "this is".
« Voici ma tasse »
"Here’s my cup"
« C’est ma tasse »
"This is my cup"

[zealous cove]

What about in Canadian French?

I'm learning from a Canadian French learning app and they showed Voici as "This is"

[rich elk]

Ah I don’t know about canadian french, maybe someone else might be able to help with that

[grand verge]

French is French, doesn't matter if it's Canadian French or France French (or Belgian, or Swiss, or Congolese French)

Simple grammar like this is the same everywhere

What changes is some vocabulary and SOMETIMES certain limited grammatical structures

but this isn't a case where you'd find a difference between countries

[novel lintel]

I'll add that the vast majority of differences are at lower registers. The more formal, the more similar (accent notwithstanding)

[zealous cove]

Okay that is good to know, I still don't get the answer if Voici = "This is" or not.

[grand verge]

It's a totally different animal from "this is", really

[novel lintel]

It can be translated that way, but the feel is more "here is", I'd say

[grand verge]

Voici and voilà comme from older constructions
literally "vois ci" and "vois là" -> "see here", "see there"

They grammaticalized over time, however and no longer have the direct meaning "see here/there"

voici un chien -> here is a dog
voilà ma journée terminée -> finally my day is over
me voici -> here I am!
le voilà -> there he is

[zealous cove]

Got it

Thank you both for the answer

[rigid obsidian]

Voilà and Voici are used to show something
one used for things at long distance, the other for things at close distance
That's what I learnt