Interjections

Interjections 

     There are several terms for “interjection”. They may be called 感動詞かんどうし, 間投詞かんとうし, or 感嘆詞かんたんし. Interjections may be outbursts of emotion while others are simply greetings (挨拶あいさつ). Some are nasty pejoratives, others simply internet slang. Due to this diversity, we are going to study interjections with the following categories. 

Emotional Interjections	感動詞
Interjections of Yelling	かけ声の間投詞
Interjections of Response	応答の間投詞
Interjections of Appeal	呼びかけの間投詞
Interjections of Salutation	挨拶の間投詞
Slang Interjections	俗語的な間投詞
Onomatopoeic Interjections	擬声語的な間投詞

This lesson won’t show every interjection nor every variant, but this should hopefully help find about the most important ones. 

Emotional Interjections

Ah	ああ	It can be used to show surprise, grief, joy, etc. and also as a light response. In the latter case it’s often just あ.
Oh	おう・おお	Used when moved (emotionally) by something, sudden remember something, or agree with something.
Thank you	どうもありがとう・おおきに・サンキュー・三Q	大きに is famous for being from Kansai Dialects. サンキュー comes from English and is used in casual settings. The second spelling is common in internet slang.
Oh my	おや（おや）	It shows a little distrust when met with something unexpected.
My, my	おやまあ
Huh	まったく
Goodness	やれ（やれ）	Used when relieved, tired, dejected, and bewildered.

Interjections of Yelling

ああ・わあ	Ah	わあ is often used by females but not limited to them. The adverb わあと also exists.
よいしょ		Sound of when you are lifting up something heavy.
えいや		Sound one makes when pulling something with strength.
おい	Hey!	Comes from Satsuguu Dialect for punishing people.
おっと	Oops	Used mainly by middle-aged people and older.
乾杯	Cheers
きゃー	Eek
ふん	Pssh
しまった	Dang/damn
図星	Bull’s-eye
畜生	Damn you
はくしょん	Achoo
ファック	F***	This is not used like in English frequency-wise, and it’s not a given that the speaker knows it is a bad word in English.
ヤッホー	Yo-ho
もう	Jeez
すごい	Awesome
やった	＃ did it!

Notes:1. The first shows how っ can make more emphasis, and this can be used for other adjectives. The latter contraction, which can also occur for 形容詞 ending in おい, あい, うい, and いい to えー, which is done in standard speech by men in casual situations. It depends on the region if women get to use this contraction or not. 

Examplesやんやの喝采になってしまった。
It ended up becoming a thunderous applause. 

	Notes
Ah	ああ・わあ	わあ is not limited to females. It can even be in わあと with verbs dealing with crying and joy.
Yo-ho	よいしょ
Ugh	えいや
There!	それ・そら	The latter is more so dialectical and depends on the speaker. This pattern can be applied to things like これ as well.
Shut up	うるさい・だまれ・だまって	There are many other ways to “shut up” that differ in grammar and politeness.
Hey!	おい・こら
Ouch!	いたっ・いたい・いてぇ
Oops	おっと
Have it your way!	勝手にしろ
Good luck!	頑張って
Cheers!	乾杯
Eek	きゃー
…stinks	くさい・くせー
S％イ＃	くそ・ふん
Dαムni%	しまった
Awesome	すごい・すげー
Stop!	ストップ
Bull’s-eye	図星
Da#% you	畜生
Voila	出来上がり
Achoo	ハクション
F*#K	ファック
Jeez	もう
Yes; hurray	やった
Yoohoo	ヤッホー

	Notes
Ah	ああ・わあ	わあ is not limited to females. It can even be in わあと with verbs dealing with crying and joy.
Yo-ho	よいしょ
Ugh	えいや
There!	それ・そら	The latter is more so dialectical and depends on the speaker. This pattern can be applied to things like これ as well.
Shut up	うるさい・だまれ・だまって	There are many other ways to “shut up” that differ in grammar and politeness.
Hey!	おい・こら
Ouch!	いたっ・いたい・いてぇ
Oops	おっと
Have it your way!	勝手にしろ
Good luck!	頑張って
Cheers!	乾杯
Eek	きゃー
…stinks	くさい・くせー
S％イ＃	くそ・ふん
Dαムni%	しまった
Awesome	すごい・すげー
Stop!	ストップ
Bull’s-eye	図星
Da#% you	畜生
Voila	出来上がり
Achoo	ハクション
F*#K	ファック
Jeez	もう
Yes; hurray	やった
Yoohoo	ヤッホー

Interjections of Response

		Notes
Ah	ああ・あ
Uh; um	あの（う）
Well	じゃあ・さあ・まあ	See below
Um	えーと	えーと is a very casual spelling. ええと and えっと are regular spellings.
No	い（い）え・いや・ううん・や（ー）だ	やだ is quite casual and is more like “that’s bad”.
Yes	はい・ええ・うん
OK	OK・オーケー
Eh?	え（っ）	May show doubt when surprised at something or when you want something to be repeated.
Oh, yes?	へえ	Shows surprise at something.
Sorry	・ ごめんなさい ・申しわけありません ・すみません
Uh-huh	しか
Yeah	そうですね	This is even said when you will then show disagreement. In that case, it would be followed with something like そうかといって.
Not at all	とんでもない	See below.
What?	何	Of course, it has variants like 何だ.
Indeed	なるほど	Used in agreement or recognition of what someone said.
Let me see	はて・はてな	Used when one is suspecting or thinking about something.
Not really	別に	Maybe accompanied by the verb that is omitted.
No use arguing	問答無用
Rodger	了解
Wow	あら	Often used by women.
Of course	もちろん
Hey there; I say	これは（これは）

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さあ　VS　まあ　VS　じゃあ  Though all translated with relatively the same word “well”, these three interjections aren’t exactly the same, and they’re used in different situations for different emotive effects.   さあ can be used to urge or invite someone to do something. It may be used to bolster oneself or even used when one is confused or troubled. It can also be the well in “well, that’s done”.    まあ is quite different. Women often use it whenever they’re shocked, relieved, etc. In general, however, it can be used to suggest that something is not completely all right, but that it will suffice for now. Or, it can be used to pacify someone and tell them to do something for the time being.    じゃあ ・じゃ・では is like “ok now”. It can be used like それでは as “then”, which can also be してみるお. It can even be used to switch over to another conversation. 

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とんでもない   It can be used to completely reject another’s idea and is equivalent to めっそうもない.It can also be used like とほうもない, which means “outrageous/absurd”. It can be seen as “no kidding!”. It’s often used in a negative fashion.  In polite speech it can be more easily interpreted as “it’s nothing”. Or, it can be used in the sense of “don’t mention it”. Of course, a lot of this has to deal with context and tone of voice. For its meaning “unthinkable”, it is interchangeable with とんだ･思いのほかの, which are both attributive expressions. 

Interjections of Appeal

Sh!	しーっ
I’m leaving	行ってきます
Have a nice day	行ってらっしゃい
Wait	ちょっと
Please	お願いします・どうぞ
Pretty please	かなりしてください
Hello (on the telephone)	もしもし
Good job	あっぱれ・グッジョブ
Excuse me	失礼します
Help	助けて
I’m home	ただいま

Interjections of Salutation

So long	あばよ
Welcome home	お帰りなさい
Congratulations	おめでとう（ございます）
Happy birthday	（お）誕生日おめでとう（ございます）
Good morning	おはようございます
Good afternoon	今日は
Good evening	今晩は
Good night	お休みなさい
How are you?; farewell	ご機嫌よう
Farewell	さよ（う）なら・さらば
See you later	また明日・あとで
What’s up?	どう
Bye	ばい・バイバイ
Long time no see	久しぶりですね・久々・調子はどう？
Merry Christmas	メリークリ（スマス）
Yo!; Wow!	やあ
Nice to meet you	どうぞよろしく・初めまして

Slangish Interjections

What’s up	おっす
Here it comes	キタ
Nice to meet you	4649 (Internet)
Lol	笑・wwww (Internet)・ワロタ

Usage Note: Words that come from the infamous site 2ちゃんねる are deemed to be used by people with low intelligence. So, avoid using ワロタ. 

Onomatopoeic Interjections

Ook	ウキー
Caw	かー
Ook ook	きーきー
Yuck	げっ
Ribbit ribbit	げろげろ
Cock-a-doodle-doo	こけこっこー
Purr; meow	ごろごろ・にゃあ
Baa baa	めーめー