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I think most native speakers have an implicit understanding of the difference between 'Here you go' and 'There you go', although the difference in use between these expressions is small. I'm not a native speaker though I also have some understanding of the difference but I'd still like to formalize the (difference in) meaning.

In my understanding 'Here you go' would be used more often when you're actually handing someone a physical object, while 'There you go' is a little more abstract, like someone reaching a conclusion. But it can be used for something further away as well.

However, the expressions can be used interchangeably somewhat. But in what cases would you do that? For example, is there ever a reason to make you choose 'There you go' when handing somebody something?

Bonus points for references to 'Here you are/There you are' and why the linguistically similar phrases 'Here we go/There we go' means something completely different. Perhaps there is a common origin?

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    Of course, "There you go!" is used as a sort of exclamation meaning "See what I mean?" or something to that effect. There's no equivalent use with "here you go". But "Here you go!" is sometimes used to mean roughly "Aha!", with no equivalent for "there you go".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 2:44
  • As to when the expressions are used while, eg, handling the object of discussion, "Here you go" would be used while handing the object to your interrogator, while "There you go" would be used if you pointed it out to him across the room.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 2:47
  • VERY big question - both phrases used so often is so many literal and figurative ways youtube.com/watch?v=Wi9y5-Vo61w
    – Dan
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 14:03
  • Just to follow up on Hot Licks's observations above, "There you go" can also be used as part of a congratulatory expression. In a children's computer game called Zoombinis—which I spent a lot of time with about 17 years ago—a (cartoon) Cajun boatman expresses his approval of the player's ordering of the zoombinis in his skiff by saying, among other things, "There you go—you got it!" That colloquial phrasing sounds very natural to me.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 21:27
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    @SvenYargs To me the expressions "Here we go again" and "There you go again" are almost the first and second person equivalents of each other. In the the first case the speaker is expressing frustration with the fact that the group is being placed in a difficult situation or being subjected to an oft-repeated rant by a boss or politician. In the second they are saying that the other person is going into a familiar rant. There isn't much equivalent use of "There we go again" and "Here you go again". They are used but less commonly.
    – BoldBen
    Commented Jul 12, 2022 at 10:39

2 Answers 2

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There is a very slight difference, matters on the context.

"There you go" is usually used when showing or pointing something out to the person that is not near you.

"Here you go" is usually used when pointing something out that is near to you or you give it to the person.

According to difference between - here vs there

the word ‘here’ is used to locate something which is near, on the other hand the word ‘there’ is used to locate something which is far

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    Both are suitable for most occasions. I would use Here you go when I hand something to someone that they've asked for or needed. I would use There you go when they've figured out something for themselves, as agreement with their conclusion.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Aug 11, 2022 at 16:38
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As far as I remember, "Here you ARE" corresponds to "There you GO" when passing objects, say, over the table on smb's request.

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