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Interjections

(Exclamation words in German grammar)

Contents

  1. Use of interjections
  2. Further explanations and exercises

What are interjections, and how are they used?

Interjections (in German: Interjektionen, Ausrufewörter, Empfindungswörter) are exclamations or words used in conversations to express feelings or get the attention of the interlocutor or listener. They have no syntactic function, belong to the particles and are, therefore, not inflectable. They typically stand before the sentence and are separated by a comma.

  • Some examples of interjections:
    • aha, nanu, ätsch, aua, igitt, hurra, hoppla, oh, ach, etc. (ah, wow, well, gosh, yippee, hm, oh dear, etc.)
  • Examples for using interjections in sentences:
    • „Hey! Was soll das?“ (Hey! What’s that for?)
    • „Oh, das ist aber nett!“ (Oh, that is so nice.)
    • „Hä, wieso das denn?“ (Erm, why is that?)
    • „Igitt, schon wieder Spinat!“ (Yuck, spinach again!)
    • „Ach ja, was ich noch sagen wollte …“ (Well, what I wanted to say …)
    • „Mist, schon wieder nicht gewonnen!“ (Damn, no win again.)
    • „Ach, wenn du wüsstest!“ (Ow, if you only knew.)
    • „Oje, das wird hart!“ (Oh dear, this is going to be tough.)

Additional explanations referring to German ‘Interjections’

The following explanations refer to the ‘Use of interjections (exclamation words) in the German language’ and also help you learn: