欸, 喔, 齁, 蛤: Taiwanese Interjections Explained

蛤 (há, ㄏㄚˊ) is the Taiwanese “huh?”. You say it with a rising, slightly nasal sound when you did not catch something or cannot quite believe it. 欸 (éi or èi) gets someone’s attention, 喔 (ō) says “oh, I see”, and 齁 (hōu, ㄏㄡ) is a drawn-out “see?” or “geez” with a note of complaint. All four are interjections: short sounds that stand alone and react to what someone just said.

This page covers those standalone reactions, plus a handful of neighbours you will hear in the same conversations. Sentence-final particles such as 啦, 囉 and 嘛, which attach to the end of a sentence and shade its tone, have their own page: Taiwanese Sentence-Final Particles. The line between the two is not sharp, and the same character often does both jobs, so this page notes where they overlap and then leaves the particle side alone.

A note on readings

Interjections are where dictionaries and real speech part ways most. The Ministry of Education dictionary (國語辭典, mirrored on moedict.tw) records the ones in the table below, but not every colloquial use. Where the dictionary has no entry for the colloquial use, the table says so, and the pinyin describes the sound people make, and the pitch can shift with mood. Treat the tone marks as a starting point and copy what you hear from the people around you.

The ones you will hear daily

Interjection	Sound	What it does	Dictionary status
蛤	há ㄏㄚˊ	”Huh?”, did not hear or cannot believe it	MOE lists 蛤 only as gé (clam) and há (in 蛤蟆, toad); no “huh” entry
欸	éi or èi ㄟˊ / ㄟˋ	”Hey”, calling attention; rising, a surprised “eh?”; also a short “okay” reply	MOE lists ǎi, āi and èi; èi is glossed as a reply of assent
喔 / 哦	ō ㄛ / ó ㄛˊ	”Oh, I see”, understanding	MOE: 喔 ō and 哦 ó, “expressing understanding”
齁	hōu ㄏㄡ	”See?” or “geez”, with complaint	MOE: hōu as an adverb meaning “very” (齁鹹)
哇	wā ㄨㄚ	”Wow”	No entry for the “wow” use
嗯	en ˙ㄣ	”Mm”, agreeing or acknowledging	MOE: en, expressing agreement, questioning or surprise
咦	yí ㄧˊ	”Huh, what’s this?”, mild surprise	MOE: yí, expressing surprise
唉	āi ㄞ	A sigh of regret or resignation	MOE: āi, expressing sorrow or regret
哎呀 / 哎唷	āi yā / āi yō ㄞ ㄧㄚ / ㄞ ㄧㄛ	Surprise, pain or annoyance	MOE lists 哎呀 and 哎喲 (āi yāo)

Reactions to what you heard

蛤 is the one learners meet first and most often. Say you ask a friend something and they did not hear: “蛤？你說什麼？” (Há? Nǐ shuō shénme?, “Huh? What did you say?”). It also carries disbelief. If someone tells you the train fare doubled, “蛤？真的假的？” (Há? Zhēn de jiǎ de?) is “What? Really?”. The tone is casual. People use it freely with friends and family, and many avoid it with a teacher, an older relative or a customer, preferring 什麼？ or 不好意思，可以再說一次嗎？ (Bù hǎo yìsi, kěyǐ zài shuō yí cì ma?, “Sorry, could you say that again?”).

哇 is “wow”, for good surprise and bad: “哇，這麼貴。” (Wā, zhème guì., “Wow, so expensive.”). 咦 is smaller, the sound of noticing something odd: “咦，我的鑰匙呢？” (Yí, wǒ de yàoshi ne?, “Huh, where are my keys?”). 哎呀 and 哎唷 react to a small mishap, a spilled drink or a stubbed toe, and can sound sympathetic or exasperated depending on how they are said.

Getting someone’s attention

欸 (éi or èi) is the casual “hey” between peers: “欸，你看這個。” (Éi, nǐ kàn zhège., “Hey, look at this.”). Said rising, it becomes a surprised “eh?”. It can also be a short “okay” reply to a request, which is the sense the dictionary records (èi, a reply of assent). It is also what you say to start a request to a friend, or to push back mildly. That second job, mild protest, is where it crosses into particle territory, and the particles page covers it.

With strangers, 欸 is too blunt. Use 不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi) or 請問 (qǐng wèn) to start a question, and 老闆 (lǎobǎn, “boss”) to call a stall owner or restaurant owner. 喂 (wèi, ㄨㄟˋ; MOE: used to call attention or greet) is normal for answering the phone, “喂？” (on the phone often a rising wéi), and rather abrupt when shouted at someone in person.

Understanding, agreeing, grumbling

喔 and 哦 are “oh”, the sound of something clicking. Said short, level or falling, it simply acknowledges: “喔，我知道了。” (Ō, wǒ zhīdào le., “Oh, I get it.”). Stretched and rising it can sound doubtful. Both characters appear in the dictionary as separate entries with slightly different tones (ō and ó), and you will see both in print. 對喔 (duì ō) is a useful chunk meaning “oh, right.” when you realise something you had forgotten. As a sentence-final softener (好喔, 不要喔), 喔 belongs to the particles page.

嗯 is the listening noise. A short “en” while someone talks says “I’m following”. A rising one is a question (“hm?”). It is worth copying early.

齁 is the one with the most personality. The dictionary treats it as an adverb for “very” with a complaining edge, as in 齁鹹 (hōu xián, “so salty”). In conversation it often stands alone, stretched out, to say “see?” or “I told you so” or “geez, that’s too much”: “齁，又下雨了。” (Hōu, yòu xià yǔ le., “Ugh, it’s raining again.”). In messages you may also see it written 吼, a homophone-style spelling. The dictionary has no standalone entry for the exclamation. Many learners connect the sound with Taiwanese Hokkien, which our Hokkien for Mandarin learners article introduces.

唉 is a sigh with words attached. “唉，算了。” (Āi, suàn le., “Ah, forget it.”) And 哼 (hēng) is the dismissive snort of displeasure, which the dictionary describes as expressing dissatisfaction, contempt or anger.

How to use them as a learner

Listen first and copy second. Of this list, the safest ones to start with are 喔 and 嗯 for acknowledging, 哇 for surprise, and 蛤 among friends. Hold back on 欸 and 齁 until you have heard how the people around you use them, because their friendliness depends on tone and relationship in a way that is hard to learn from a table.

Do not worry about getting the tone exactly “right” for interjections. They carry feeling more than lexical meaning, and a native speaker will understand 蛤 whether it rises sharply or gently. What gives a learner away is silence or an overly formal 什麼 in a casual setting, and both are fixable by hearing more real speech. If you read texts, Taiwanese chat spellings for these sounds are covered in Taiwanese Internet and Texting Slang.

Related reading

• Taiwanese Sentence-Final Particles: 啦, 喔, 囉, 欸 Explained
• Chinese Filler Words: 那個, 就是, 然後
• Taiwanese Internet and Texting Slang
• 台語 (Taiwanese Hokkien) vs Mandarin: What to Know