Interjections are an important part of everyday language and even if in some cases it is possible to detect what they mean by the voice intonation or the body language they are associated with, some of them can still remain quite obscure and, even worse, can lead to embarassing misunderstandings. If you play the audio link below you will hear a series of these interjections in Italian. Would you be able to get by in a real communicative situation when you hear one of those? Whatever level you are at, a good exercise is to have a guess at what they could mean. Then you can have a look in the comment section for their meaning and use. Dai!Thursday 13 January 2011
Oh dear!
Interjections are an important part of everyday language and even if in some cases it is possible to detect what they mean by the voice intonation or the body language they are associated with, some of them can still remain quite obscure and, even worse, can lead to embarassing misunderstandings. If you play the audio link below you will hear a series of these interjections in Italian. Would you be able to get by in a real communicative situation when you hear one of those? Whatever level you are at, a good exercise is to have a guess at what they could mean. Then you can have a look in the comment section for their meaning and use. Dai!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Beh! Well... at the start of a sentence when you're hesitating.
ReplyDeleteMah! I don't know.
Boh! I don't know and I don't care. You may shrug with this one.
Aiah! Ouch!
Tsh! No! It's like a short, loud tutting noise or as if you were sucking your teeth very loudly. Quite rude to be honest. Less common in Northern Italy.
Hey! To attract someone's attention or to express pleasure when bumping into them.
Aha! Oh, I see! Your voice needs to start low, go high and back down again in one uninterrupted sound.
Mmmmm! Doubtful, you don't really believe what someone is telling you.
Ufff! Pronounced "Oooffarh!". When you're fed up, tired, bored. Also 'Uffa/Uffi'
Uuuuh! Pronounced "Oooooh!". Ooops! Ops is commonly used in Northern Italy
Toc toc! Knock Knock! This can be quite offensive, especially when it means 'Is there anybody there (in your head)?/Do you understand?
Bleah! Yuk!
Oddio! Oh god! You will very often hear also 'Oh, Madonna/Madonna', meaning the same thing
Merda! Shit! Maybe not as rude as in English, but still quite rude. I would strongly suggest to avoid it.
Dai! Come on!
Ma dai! Get away! Surprise at something someone has told you, e.g. some juicy piece of gossip.
Allora? Said with hands on hips and a disgruntled tone, this means "Well?" as in "Well, what are you waiting for?" or "Well, are you ready?" or "Well, what the hell is this about?". Not very nice.
(this is a modified version of a list published on BBC Learning Italian, where I commented on the bits I did not agree with)