Differences between voilà and il y a
a. As voilà is made up of the second person singular imperative, voi(s), of the verb voir, and the stressed adverb of place, là, it is evident that this expression means see there. It translates there is, there are, whenever these are used to indicate specifically or emphatically some object or objects to which attention is directed.1
1 In the same way, the adverb là, there, is used to point out definite direction or position, in an emphatic and specific manner. The unstressed adverb of place, y, there, is used in general reference. Observe that là follows the verb and that y usually precedes it. Il est là devant l'école. He is there in front of the school.
Ma mère y était aussi. My mother was also there.
Voilà son chien dans le jardin. There is his dog in the garden.
Voilà Jean avec son père. There is John with his father.
b. The impersonal expression y avoir is made up of the verb avoir, and the unstressed adverb of place y. It has none of the emphatic and specific force indicated by voilà, but is rather used for general statements. It is conjugated in the same manner as avoir, but while it has all the tenses, it is used only in the third person singular. Voilà, on the other hand, is limited to the present indicative there is, there are.
Il y a une multitude d'étoiles ce soir. There is a multitude of stars to-night. Il y aura cent pages dans le livre. There will be 100 pages in the book.
12. Orthographical peculiarities of -oyer, -uyer; -ayer, -eyer verbs. — Certain verbs ending in -oyer, -uyer, change the y to i regularly whenever it comes before a mute e, but not elsewhere ; verbs ending in -ayer, -eyer, may either change the y to i before mute e or retain the y throughout the conjugation.
Nettoyer, to clean
Present Indicative
Future
Conditional
Imperative
nettoie
nettoierai
nettoierais
nettoies
nettoieras
nettoierais
nettoie
nettoie
nettoiera
nettoierait
nettoyons
nettoierons
nettoierions
nettoyons
nettoyez
nettoierez
nettoieriez
nettoyez
nettoient
nettoieront
nettoieraient
Payer,
to pay (for)
Present Indicative
Future
Conditional
Imperative
paie, etc.,
paierai, etc.,
paierais, etc.,
paie
or
or
or
or
paye, etc.
payerai, etc.
payerais, etc.
paye
Like nettoyer :
Like payer :
ennuyer, to bore,
be tiresome to
balayer, to sweep
essuyer, to wipe
effrayer, to frighten
noyer, to drown
essayer, to try,
try on
envoyer, to send.
(Irreg. fut. and
cond., enverrai, etc., enverrais, etc.)
EXERCISE
(a) i. Is Mary cleaning her room to-day? 2. There is my mother now. Where has she been? 3. The men are sweeping the streets near the church. 4. My father is drowning the black cat in the river. 5. This noise frightens all the women in the house. 6. Wasn't my cousin trying on her new dress? 7. There is your maid in the yard now. 8. This large book bores the children very much. 9. My sister is sweeping the carpet. 10. I am wiping the dishes for my mother.
(b) 11. The old woman is paying the boys. 12. There is a crowd of boys in the street. 13. The dog will frighten the birds in the tree. 14. Wasn't she sweeping the stairs ? 15. She is sending the flowers to her sister. 16. Is your cousin trying on his hat ? 17. We shall drown the dog this evening. 18. He will pay two francs for the book. 19. Here is John. Where has he been this evening? 20. This man cleans his yard in spring.
(c) 21. There are three men in the room. 22. Mary will also wipe the glasses. 23. John will try on the shoes at the shoe store. 24. My husband will pay for the flowers. 25. The water usually drowns the insects in the fields. 26. My father cleans his gun after supper. 27. I sweep the floor when my mother is sick. 28. The cry frightens John's sister when she is here. 29. The man will pay for this dinner. 30. I should have sent that book to Mary's brother.
(d) 31. John is always cleaning his shoes. 32. She will wipe the dishes this morning. 33. That old man is tiresome to everybody. 34. They would have cleaned the table. 35. She will send the old book to her brother's child. 36. When that woman sings that old song, she bores my father. 37. The man is cleaning my watch this week. 38. Did Mary wipe and clean this table? 39. This family sends three packages to the soldiers every week. 40. He is cleaning the lamp in the kitchen.
