Esperanto interjections: ho, ve, hura, nu and sound words

Esperanto has nine official interjections: adiaŭ, bis, fi, ha, he, ho, hura, nu and ve. An interjection is a short word that voices a feeling or calls for attention. It stands outside ordinary grammar: it has no ending, takes no case and does not interact with the other words of a sentence, but often forms a complete utterance by itself (PMEG). All others – aha, hej, oj, hm and the animal and noise words – are unofficial, and PMEG says speakers may create such words freely.

Greetings like Saluton! and Dankon! look similar but are not interjections; they are nouns in the accusative, explained further down.

#The nine official interjections

Six were already in the Fundamento of 1905 (in the Universala Vortaro or the Ekzercaro). Three were added later by the Language Committee and the Academy of Esperanto: he (1909), hura (1921) and bis (1929).

The examples of fi, ha, ho and nu come from Zamenhof's Ekzercaro (§ 26). Status and dates follow the Academy's Akademia Vortaro.

#Nu: the all-purpose word

Nu announces that something worth noticing follows. PMEG lists many uses, among them:

• impatience: Nu, iru pli rapide! – "Come on, go faster!"
• consent: Nu, bone, mi venos. – "Well, all right, I'll come."
• hesitation: Nu... mi ne scias. – "Well... I don't know."
• resignation: Nu, tia estas la vivo. – "Well, such is life."
• consolation: Nu, nu, ĉio estos bone. – "There, there, all will be well."

ReVo adds that nu also has a conjunction sense; a following "!" or "..." marks the interjection.

#Ho, ha, he and ve

Ho is the most general. It is common before an address (ho, Dio!) and in combinations such as ho ve and he ho. Ha is closer to wonder; doubled, ha ha imitates laughter. He gets someone's attention. Ve expresses sorrow and can be a warning: Ve al vi, se vi tion faros! – "Woe to you if you do that!"

#Adiaŭ and bis in practice

PMEG remarks that adiaŭ is used little in practice. People usually say ĝis (la) revido! or ĝis!, which expect a new meeting; see greetings. Bis is limited to artistic and musical settings and is also rare; speakers more often say pli, plian or denove.

#Unofficial interjections

PMEG lists more than forty examples and adds that forms and meanings vary with speaker and situation, so glosses should not be taken too seriously. Unofficial does not mean wrong: these words are normal in speech and writing.

Aŭ "ouch" is spelled like the conjunction aŭ "or"; context tells them apart. Hej is not a greeting in PMEG's list: for "hello" use Saluton!.

#Sound words and animal calls

Sound words (onomatopoeia) are the loosest part of the language. PMEG says grammar rules do not apply to them, and they may break the usual sound rules: sss has three identical consonants and no vowel.

• Puf! La libro falis de la breto. – "Thud! The book fell off the shelf."
• La anaso diras “gik gak”, kaj la rano diras “kva”. – "The duck says “gik gak” and the frog says “kva”."

Any root can lose its ending and become an exclamation or a sound. PMEG gives halt! (from halti), ek! "get going!", eks! "away with that!" and help!. Verbs give sounds by dropping the ending, sometimes with changes: kraki → krak!, plaŭdi → plaŭ!, boji → boj!, tinti → tin tin!, pafi → pif, paf!. PMEG advises doing this sparingly and only with one-vowel roots, because a bare rapid! leaves the stress unclear.

#Words made from interjections

An official interjection has no ending, but some have derived words with normal endings (see word building). These forms are confirmed in PMEG or ReVo:

• Ni adiaŭis niajn amikojn en la stacidomo. – "We said goodbye to our friends at the station."
• La infanoj huraas. – "The children are cheering."

PMEG and ReVo list no derived words for he, ho or nu, so do not invent them.

#Saluton and Dankon are not interjections

Saluton! "Hello!" and Dankon! "Thanks!" look like exclamations but are nouns with the accusative ending. PMEG treats them as shortened sentences: Saluton! = (Mi donas al vi) saluton "(I give you) a greeting", and Dankon! = (Mi donas al vi) dankon. The same holds for Bonan matenon! – "(I wish you) a good morning". The -n marks the object of a verb that is no longer spoken. See polite phrases for replies.

Other expressions that only look like interjections:

• Jes, ne, jen are adverb-like particles (adverbs).
• Pardonu!, Bonvolu!, Helpu! are imperatives with -u.
• Kia bela tago! is built with a correlative; PMEG lists Kia ĝoja festo! among the shortened sentences, not the interjections.

#Pronunciation and spelling

Normally the stress falls on the second-to-last vowel (see the alphabet): HU-ra, A-ha, HO-la. PMEG notes that interjections often get another stress than the spelling suggests. It then recommends splitting or respelling the word so that the writing matches the sound.

The phone call is ha lo, always said "ha-LO". Written halo, it would read as the ordinary noun halo, stressed HA-lo. The letter ŭ normally follows a or e, but in 2023 the Academy accepted it in other positions in exclamations and sound words, as in ŭa and kŭaks.

#Usage and culture

• Many of ReVo's quotations for ve, ho, nu and hura come from Zamenhof's translations of Andersen, Schiller and the Old Testament. His Preĝo sub la Verda Standardo uses ho in its invocation of a "mighty, bodiless Mystery".
• PMEG describes ha lo as a call used especially on the telephone. ReVo, quoting a usage guide, prefers saluton there.

#Examples in sentences

• Ho, kia bela vespero! – "Oh, what a lovely evening!"
• Ha, jen vi estas! – "Ah, there you are!"
• He, atendu min! – "Hey, wait for me!"
• Nu, kion ni faru nun? – "Well, what shall we do now?"
• Ve, la lasta buso jam foriris! – "Alas, the last bus has already left!"
• Fi, kia malpura ĉambro! – "Ugh, what a dirty room!"
• Hura, morgaŭ komenciĝas la ferioj! – "Hooray, the holidays start tomorrow!"
• Post la koncerto ĉiuj kriis: Bis! Bis! – "After the concert everyone shouted: Encore! Encore!"
• Adiaŭ, kara amiko! – "Farewell, dear friend!"
• Aj, mi tranĉis mian fingron! – "Ouch, I cut my finger!"

#Common questions

#How many interjections does Esperanto have?

Nine are official: adiaŭ, bis, fi, ha, he, ho, hura, nu, ve. Many more are unofficial, and speakers can invent sound words freely.

#Is Saluton an interjection?

No. It is the noun saluto "greeting" with the accusative ending -n, short for Mi donas al vi saluton. Dankon works the same way.

#How do you say "ouch" in Esperanto?

Use aj! or aŭ! for pain. Oj! expresses bitter regret or pain.

#What is the Esperanto word for "hooray"?

Hura! It is an official interjection, added in 1921. To cheer is hurai: La infanoj huraas.

#Can interjections take endings?

Some can: veo, adiaŭi, bisi, fia, hurai. Others, such as ho and nu, have no standard derived forms.

#Where does the stress fall in hura and aha?

By the rule on HU-ra and A-ha. Many speakers say hu-RA and a-HA; PMEG then suggests writing hu ra and a ha.

#Sources

• PMEG ch. 18 – Interjections and sound words
• PMEG 18.1 – Official interjections
• PMEG 18.2 – Ordinary roots as interjections
• PMEG 18.3 – Unofficial interjections and sound words
• PMEG 18.4 – Pronunciation and spelling
• PMEG 32.3 – Shortened sentences (Saluton!, Dankon!)
• Fundamento de Esperanto – Ekzercaro, § 26 and Universala Vortaro
• Akademia Vortaro – status of each element and notes with the dates of the Official Additions
• Akademio de Esperanto – Declaration on the letter ŭ (9 April 2023)
• ReVo (Reta Vortaro): ve, hura, nu, bis, adiaŭ, hola