How to say “surprise” in 47 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.
- Afrikaans verrassing #544
- Albanian çudi #1,563
- Arabic مفاجأة #778
- Armenian յա an interjection expressing surprise #633
- Bosnian iznenađenje #1,041
- Bulgarian изненада #840
- Catalan sorpresa #995
- Chinese 喔 Particle conveying realization or surprise #115
- Croatian iznenađenje #998
- Czech překvapení #988
- Danish overraskelse #1,209
- Dutch verrassing #1,133
- English oh Expression of surprise #56
- Esperanto surprizo #1,110
- Estonian üllatus #885
- Finnish yllätys #1,216
- French eh signifying indifference or surprise #235
- Georgian განა adds a nuance of surprise to questions, and… #187
- German überraschung #1,202
- Greek έκπληξη #904
- Hebrew הן lo! as expressing surprise: behold, if, lo,… #255
- Hindi आश्चर्य surprise, amazement #588
- Hungarian hmm Indicating thinking, pondering, surprise or… #1,323
- Icelandic au An exclamation of awe and surprise; wow #2,155
- Indonesian ah oh, expresses compassion, surprise and dismay #276
- Korean 아이고 expression of surprise; oh, ouch #446
- Latvian pārsteigums #1,045
- Lithuanian siurprizas #2,263
- Macedonian бе A particle expressing anger, frustration, or… #475
- Malay kejutan shocker, surprise #880
- Norwegian overrasket to surprise to feel surprise #1,236
- Persian اوه oh; an exclamation of surprise #43
- Polish ach ah! expresses surprise, fear, pleasure,… #1,160
- Portuguese jesus Used to express surprise, excitement or… #789
- Romanian surpriză #1,110
- Russian сюрприз #1,391
- Serbian iznenađenje #977
- Slovenian presenečenje #447
- Spanish sorpresa #965
- Swedish jaså Expression of mild surprise; oh, really #488
- Tagalog naku an exclamation expressing surprise, wonder,… #287
- Tamil அடடா an exclamation of surprise #529
- Telugu ఆశ్చర్యము surprise, wonder, astonishment #1,274
- Turkish sürpriz #946
- Ukrainian сюрприз #1,030
- Urdu حیرت astonishment; amazement; surprise; wonder #482
- Vietnamese thay Used as a modifier to indicate surprise #315
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.