(Image from Pixabay; no copyright.)

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 Norwegian interjeksjoner.

Au, det gjorde vondt! (Ouch, that hurt!)

Sursild, æsj, så ekkelt! (Sour herrings, yuck, how disgusting!)

Hysj, nå må dere være stille! (Hush, you have to be quiet now!)

Har jeg ikke sagt at du må ta av deg skoene før du går inn! Fy! (Haven’t I said that you have to take off your shoes before entering! Shame!)

Hurra for brudeparet! (Cheers/”hurrah” for the newly-weds!)

Heia Norge! (Go Norway! – at sports events 🙂  )

Ja! Vi gjorde det! (Yes! We did it!)

Nei! Det er ikke sant! (Oh no! That can’t be true!)

Tja, hva skal vi si? Tjue stykker? (Well, what to say [= choose]? Twenty pieces?)

Hm… Dette er veldig rart… (Hm… This is really strange!)

Øh, jeg vet ikke helt, jeg. (Um, I don’t really know about that…)

Å, er det deg? (Oh, is it you?)

Greit, da sier vi det. (Alright, that’s settled then.)

Oi, oi for en dag! (”What a day, what a day!”)

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

Hei! Hvem er du? (Hi! Who’re you?)

Hallo! Du mistet lommeboken din! (Hey! You lost your wallet!)

Skål, alle sammen! (Cheers, everybody!)

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? 🙂  )

Kua sier mø. Grisen sier nøff. Sauen sier bæ. Hunden sier voff. Katten sier mjau. (Cow, pig, sheep, dog, cat…) Of course, Norwegians still can’t agree what the fox says. 🙂