Learn French: Vous voyez quoi là ? - What do you see there?

Vous voyez quoi là ?

What do you see there?

Breakdown of Vous voyez quoi là ?

Questions & Answers about Vous voyez quoi là ?

Why do we use quoi instead of que for 'what' here?

When you put the question word after the verb instead of at the beginning of the sentence, 'what' changes from que to quoi. This matches the everyday spoken pattern of keeping the normal sentence order (subject + verb + question word).

Is this a formal or informal way to ask a question?

It is informal and very common in everyday spoken French. Even though the pronoun vous can be formal, leaving the question word at the end of the sentence makes the tone conversational. A more traditional or formal version would be Que voyez-vous là ?

What is the base form of the verb voyez?

The infinitive (base form) is voir (to see). It is an irregular verb, and voyez is the conjugated form used with vous.

I learned that ici means 'here' and là means 'there'. Are they interchangeable?

Strictly speaking, ici means 'here' and là means 'there'. However, in everyday spoken French, people use là very broadly to point out a location, so it often covers both 'here' and 'there' depending on what you are looking at.