How to say “oh” in 33 languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
It is commonest in Persian, where اوه is the 43rd most used word.
- Arabic أيتها O, oh: form of أَيُّهَا used when addressing… #262
- Bengali রে alas, ho, oh, ah #282
- Catalan oh #173
- Chinese 啊哈 oh my #1,334
- Czech ó #956
- Danish jaså oh, is that so #1,500
- Dutch oh #179
- Esperanto ho #72
- Estonian issand Said in supplication, oh my God! #394
- Finnish kas look!, oh!, my!, behold! #1,610
- French oh #105
- Galician oh #195
- Georgian ააა ah!, oh!, aha! #371
- German oh #84
- Hebrew אוי oh, alas, woe, oy #303
- Hindi अरे hey, oh, arrey #114
- Hungarian ó oh! #82
- Icelandic ó oh!, ah! #621
- Indonesian ah oh, expresses compassion, surprise and dismay #276
- Italian oh #59
- Korean 세상에 oh my God! oh no! #140
- Macedonian ох #160
- Malayalam എന്റമ്മോ oh my god #2,327
- Persian اوه oh; an exclamation of surprise #43
- Polish och oh! #358
- Romanian măi oh, oh my, hey #1,960
- Russian господи oh my God, oh my Lord #375
- Slovak panebože oh my God #886
- Spanish oh #101
- Swedish åh #242
- Tagalog hala oh no #1,291
- Urdu ارے hey, ho, oh, whew, yo #96
- Vietnamese ơi vocative particle; oh, hey #231
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.