Hello everyone, I’m Grace.
Welcome back to my channel!
Today we’re going to talk about 15 interjections in Mandarin.
Interjections are like “Wow”, “Oh”, “Um…” in English.
These little expressions help you convey certain emotions
without saying too many words!
It’s really useful, right?
So without further ado, let’s get into it!
Before I tell you these interjections,
I want to say that the tone of the characters I’m going to give you
is to help you to type them,
but when we really say them, depending on the emotion we want to express,
the tone of the characters change, it’s not necessary to follow the original tone.
OK, number one 喂
When answering the phone, we pronounce it with the second tone. 喂 喂
Some people also use this to call others’ attention,
it is pronounced: 喂 喂,
but this is a little bit impolite,
of course, it still depends on your tone of voice.
But just be careful, this way of calling others might offend people.
The next one is 嗨 / 哈囉
You might have learned “Hello” in Mandarin is 你好.
But we don’t usually use this word to greet people we already know.
We use “嗨 / 哈囉” instead.
Yep, you can tell the words are from English. 嗨 Hi/ 哈囉 Hello.
Number three is 嗯
This is a very common one
when you pronounce it with the fourth tone,
it is used to show agreement or approval,
it’s like you’re saying “yes” or “OK”.
Sometimes when another person is speaking, it is just a way to show that you’re listening.
When you pronounce this word as a second tone 嗯？, it is used to express your doubt or curiosity.
Like when someone calls your attention, you can respond “嗯？”,
here “嗯？” is like “what?” in English.
Also, this word can be pronounced low and flat 嗯 to show that
you’re hesitating or thinking about something.
Next one, 欸
This word can also be used to express many different things.
For example,
When you pronounce it with the fourth tone, 欸,
it can be used to call attention, it’s like “Hey” in English.
But remember saying 欸 to call someone who is older than you is not polite.
Also if you feel surprised about something or you suddenly think of something,
you can say “欸” pronouncing this word with the second tone “欸”
Next, 哼
This is used to express your anger, contempt or dissatisfaction.
It’s like “humph” in English.
Next one, 唉
You can use this one to show that you’re disappointed or sad.
It’s like a sigh so if you make this sound 唉,
people might ask “what happened to you?”.
Number seven, 啊
This is also very commonly used,
you can use “啊” when you suddenly think of something
or suddenly realize or understand something.
This word can also be pronounced with the second tone 啊
to show that you didn’t get what a person was saying,
or you feel surprised about the thing you heard.
But in Taiwan, you can hear many people use “蛤” to indicate that
they didn’t get what you said
or they feel surprised about what you said.
OK, the next one, 哦 / 喔 / 噢
These three words are basically the same.
The third character is more often used when you realize something,
but this is related to personal preference,
some people like to use the other two characters instead.
OK, so let’s talk about their usage:
First, you can say 哦 / 喔 / 噢 with the fourth tone to show that
you suddenly think of or realize something.
Also if someone tells you something and you don’t actually care,
you can respond with a short 哦 / 喔 / 噢.
But you know this might offend people because it shows that you don’t care.
Another way to use it is
when you feel a little dissatisfied or disappointed about what you heard,
you can say 哦 / 喔 / 噢 with a low and flat tone.
This word can also be used when someone says something to you,
and you respond 哦 with the second tone to express
your curiosity, surprise or sometimes doubt.
OK, another one is that you can say 哦～
to show that you finally get the point.
You finally understand something.
Number ten, 嘘
This is the same with “shh” in English,
you can use it to ask others to be quiet.
Next, 哎呦 / 哎呀
These two interjections are pretty much the same.
In most cases, they are interchangeable
but compared to 哎呦, 哎呀 expresses a stronger feeling.
OK, let’s see how can we use them:
They can be used when you’re surprised or shocked
or when you feel pain, it’s like “ouch” in English.
When you feel anxious or worried about something or someone.
They can also be used to express your annoyance or frustration.
Number twelve, 呸
This is used to express your contempt or disagreement.
It’s like “bah” in English.
It can also be used when someone says something bad can happen,
and you don’t want it to happen, so you can say “呸呸呸”
Btw, I mentioned the word “烏鴉嘴”,
this is a Chinese slang word,
if you want to learn more about Chinese slang,
you can take a look at this video.
OK, let’s move on to the next one, 咦
You can use 咦 to express confusion
or surprise.
Number fourteen, 呃
This one is like “Er” in English,
you can use it when you’re a little speechless,
or you’re hesitating.
or when you feel a bit embarrassed.
The last one is, 哇 or 哇賽
You probably already know this one,
when you feel surprised you can make the sound, 哇 or 哇賽.
They are the same as English “Wow”.
OK, these are the fifteen interjections I wanted to introduce,
if you like today’s video, please give it a thumbs-up.
And also, if you want to learn some daily words or phrases in Mandarin,
you can check out my Instagram or Facebook page.
I hope to see you there.
Alright, that’s it for today,
see you next time, bye!