Interjections in English: 27 examples from Aha! to Yay!

August 05, 2024

Do you want to learn about interjections in English? If your first thought is, “huh?”, you’re already on the right track. Other interjections — including “ow,” “aha,” and “uh-oh” — can also help you express surprise or sudden emotions. Using these little words correctly (and spontaneously) makes you sound more like a native speaker of English.

Interjections in English differ from those in other languages. For example, if a native English speaker bumps their head, they might say, “Ow!” But someone speaking Spanish might instead say “¡Ay!” or “¡Uy!”

To truly sound like a local in the English-speaking world, you’ll need to learn and use English interjections. In this guide, we’ll look at 27 examples to get you started.

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What are interjections?

Interjections are short words or phrases that express emotions or reactions. Commonly used interjections in English include “wow,” “mhm” and “psst.” Such words convey immediate feelings or attitudes and add a little spice to everyday speech. We use interjections in many ways, including:

to express happiness, surprise, disgust or agreement
to demand something
to interrupt a thought or speech

How to use interjections

Most interjections can stand alone as exclamations, though they’re often integrated into sentences for emphasis. In either case, these words can generally be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning.

You’ll typically hear interjections in speech. But you might see or use them in creative or informal writing, such as in emails to friends or messages to close colleagues on Slack or Teams. Interjections are not normally used in formal writing.

Interjections can be useful when you need to add some emotion to your writing. When writing with interjections, remember to use the appropriate punctuation after each interjection to set it apart from whatever follows. For standalone interjections, an exclamation point is often appropriate. If you’re working an interjection into a longer sentence, it should probably be preceded and/or followed by a comma.

Common interjections in English

English interjections can be categorized into two broad types: primary and secondary interjections.

Primary interjections are noises we make to express feelings or emotions. (“Mhm” is an example of a primary interjection.) Because these interjections are noises, you may see them spelled in various ways. We’ve used the most common spellings here.

Secondary interjections are words that can function as other parts of speech but can also be used as interjections. (“Well” is an example of a secondary interjection.) In the table below, we’ve listed primary and secondary interjections together.

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Interjection	Purpose	Example
aha	to express that you understand or have discovered something	“Aha, now I see what you mean!” “Aha! My keys are over there!”
aw/aww	to express disappointment to express that you find something cute	“Aw, do we have to do our homework?” “Aww! Your daughter is adorable.”
brrr	to express that you feel cold	“Brrr! It’s absolutely freezing!”
duh	to express that you think a statement is obvious or stupid	“Duh, didn’t you know that?”
ew	to express disgust	“Ew, what is that smell?”
hmm	to express uncertainty	“Hmm, I’m not sure about that.”
huh	to express confusion or bewilderment to express disagreement	“Huh? Could you repeat that, please?” “Huh, I don’t like that idea at all.”
mhm	to express agreement	“Mhm, I totally agree.”
no way	to express refusal or surprise	“No way! I am not doing that.”
phew	to express relief	“Phew. You arrived just in time.”
oops/whoops	to say you had a small accident or did something embarrassing	“Oops, I spilled some wine on the carpet.”
ouch/ow	to express pain	“Ouch! That really hurt.”
ugh	to express strong disgust	“Ugh, the dog rolled in a rotting fish — she smells awful.”
uh	to express hesitation	“We’re, uh, not sure she’ll like the cake.”
uh-huh	to express agreement	“Did you see the email I sent you?” “Uh-huh.”
uh-oh	to express apprehension	“Uh-oh, Mom looks angry.”
well*	to express surprise, relief or anger	“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
wow	to show that you are surprised or impressed	“Wow! What an incredible sunset.”
yay	to show that you’re very pleased	“Yay, you’re coming too!”

* There are many other ways to use “well.” For example, you can use it to show agreement or acceptance, e.g. “Well, I suppose I can help if you really need me to.”

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Interjections to express a wish or instruction

These short utterances express demands or requests.

Interjection	Purpose	Example
psst	to get someone’s attention	“Psst! Do you have a pen?”
shh	to tell someone to be quiet	“Shh! I’m trying to concentrate.”
shoo	to tell someone/something to go away	“Shoo! Get out of the kitchen.”

Interjections in messages

Interjections in written messages are often abbreviations or acronyms. These informal exclamations are appropriate to use with friends or (very) close colleagues at work.

Interjection	Meaning	Purpose	Example
LOL	laughing out loud	to express laughter	“LOL! That can’t be true!”
WTH*	what the hell	to express surprise/anger	“WTH! You can’t do that.”
OMG	oh my God	to express surprise/anger	“OMG, no way!”

* You’ll also see “WTF,” meaning “What the f- – -!”

Yay! Now you know lots of English interjections

Now that you know some of the most common interjections in English, you can use them to add emotion to your speech and informal writing. Whether you’re expressing annoyance, surprise or delight, these tiny words can help you sound more like a native English speaker.

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Laura Jones

Laura is a freelance writer and was an ESL teacher for eight years. She was born in the UK and has lived in Australia and Poland, where she writes blogs for Lingoda about everything from grammar to dating English speakers. She’s definitely better at the first one. She loves travelling and that’s the other major topic that she writes on. Laura likes pilates and cycling, but when she’s feeling lazy she can be found curled up watching Netflix. She’s currently learning Polish, and her battle with that mystifying language has given her huge empathy for anyone struggling to learn English. Find out more about her work in her portfolio.

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