Ouch! Hitting your finger with a hammer hurts, and the interjection ouch helps you let out a bit of the pain and frustration. Yes! and um… are also interjections, small words that we use to express a feeling. They’re like their own miniature sentences, loaded with meaning. (The meaning of Yes! could be ”I’m so happy we won the match!”) Here are some common Danish udråbsord (interjections, literally ”exclamation words”).

Av [auw], det gjorde ondt! (Ouch, that hurt!)

Gammel Ole, ad, hvor ulækkert! (Gammel Ole, yuck, how disgusting! – G.O. is a very strong and smelly cheese.)

Ssh! Nu skal I være stille. (Hush, you have to be quiet now!)

Nu har du igen svinet stuen til. Fy! (Now you’ve made a mess in the living-room again. Shame!)

Hurra for kærligheden! (Cheers/”hurrah” for Love!)

Yes, det lykkedes! (Yes, we managed/made it! – Literally: It succeeded!)

Ja, jeg har det! (Yes, I’ve got it!)

Nej, det er umuligt! (No, it’s impossible!)

Ih, det vil jeg glæde mig til! (Gee, I’ll be looking forward to that!)

Tjah, hvad skal vi vælge? Blå eller gul? (Well, what to choose? Blue or yellow?)

Hm… Det forstår jeg altså ikke! (Hm… I really don’t understand that!)

Øh, det ved jeg faktisk ikke… (Um, I actually don’t know about that…)

Åh nej, hvad er der dog sket? (Oh no, what happened?)

Sometimes interjections are also used to call out somebody’s attention:

Hej! Hvem er du? (Hi! Who’re you?)

Hallo! Er der nogen hjemme? (Hello, is there anybody home?)

Hey! Du tabte dit pas! (Hey there! You lost your passport!)

Skål! Og tillykke! (Cheers! And congrats!)

Even animal and nature sounds are a kind of interjections… (Although I’m not quite sure what feeling you express when you say them! Maybe the ”feeling of being a cow” or something? 🙂  )

muh! (= ko, cow)

mæh! (= får, sheep)

øf! (= gris, pig)

vov! (= hund, dog)

mjav! (= kat, cat)