Persian Interjections and What They Mean (Audio)

Updated: 8 July 2019

I have two students, a married couple, who I’ve been teaching for a little over 4 years now. In the beginning, it was just the two of them, then the wife became pregnant, and now, their son is around 3.5. I can’t believe how quickly he’s grown. As soon as he was old enough, he started saying my name. According to the parents, on Tuesdays, he wouldn’t stop repeating my name because he knew I was coming that day (which prompted the nanny to wonder- who is this “Pontia”?). He used to like it when I came. He’d open the door for me and bring his toys out one by one to show me. As he got a little older, the question became, “When is she leaving?” And who could blame him? I was a stranger who came around once a week speaking this weird language and saying “Hi!” as soon as he opened the door. Later his parents told me he asked, “What does ‘hi’ mean?” 

Now I hear you asking, “Pontia, why are you rambling on about this?” Well, it’s all really just to tell you that this little fella was the inspiration for this post. One day, he was especially restless and kept distracting his parents during class. He kept throwing around Persian interjections like “Eh!” and “Evâ!” and “Ey bâbâ!” It made me laugh thinking about how this tiny human just knew all these random sounds and their appropriate use. But of course, we all know them in our mother tongue. Back in the US, when my students came across words like “Ouch” or “Humpf” they would pause, unsure of how to read them or what they meant. I remember one of my undergrad Spanish professors used the example of how in Spanish they say, “ehhh” when their thinking (just like in Persian) as opposed to the English, “ummm.” It’s these subtleties of language that often act as telltale signs distinguishing native from non-native speakers.

So with all of this in mind, I started jotting down these Persian interjections and other funny sounds and kept my ears open anywhere I went to catch people using them in a natural way. And here we are today. To make them easier to understand, I’ve once again enlisted the help of my colleague Mahmoud Mohammadi for the audio portion. A few times while we were recording, he used them without even realizing it! That’s how common they are! So here we go…

Common Persian interjections and other weird sounds Iranians make and what they mean. 

Note: I’ve done my best to keep the example Persian sentences in the correct written form. But the transliterations are the spoken form that match the audios.

Eh

What it means: Eh is actually pretty multipurpose. Now, I’m not talking about the eh as in the reduction of ast or even the ezâfe. Rather, it’s a sound that has a couple of meanings depending on your intonation. It can denote surprise as in “Really? / No way! / I can’t believe it!” With a short and flat intonation, however, it shows surprise or shock in a negative way. Compare these two examples:

اِه! این را برای چی اینجا سیوش کردی؟

Eh! Ino barâye chi injâ “save”-esh kardi?

Hey! Why did you save this here?

.پانته آ یک ماشین جدید خریدم

!اِه

.واقعا حرف ندارد

Pontia, ye mâshin-e jadid kharidam.

Eh!

Vâghean harf nadâreh.

Pontia, I bought a new car.

Really?/No way!

Yah, it’s really awesome.

Deh

What it means: Deh is similar to eh above used in a negative way (as in the first example). I got deh-ed once when I went to sit in the front seat of the taxi and didn’t realize the burly man standing nearby was the first passenger who had already claimed that seat. He gave me a stern DEH!, as in “what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” When the penny dropped, I apologized, and he realized it was an innocent mistake and apologized back for sounding so rude with his little interjection.

.دِ! تو که هنوز اینجا نشستی. بهت گفتم  برو یک زنگ بهش بزن

Deh! To ke hanuz injâ neshasti. Behet goftam boro ye zang behesh bezan.

Hey! You’re still sitting here. I told you to go call him.

Bah bah

What it means: Surely you remember this one? It expresses delight and/or surprise at seeing someone or something. Like when guests come to your house, you can say, “Bah bah, khosh âmadid [welcome]!” You could smell a rose and say, “Bah bah.” You could hike up the mountain and enjoy the breathtaking view from up top, “Bah bah.”  But notice how the intonation differs between when you’re happy to see someone vs when you smell a flower. (Sometimes, you might even hear one bah instead of two.)

.به به! چه عجب از این ورا؟ راه گم کردی

Bah bah, che ajab az invarâ? Râh gom kardi.

Wow, fancy seeing you here! Did you get lost?

!به به! چه هوای خوبی

Bah bah che havâye khubi!

Wow, what beautiful weather!

Bah bah can also be used sarcastically, like when you catch someone doing something they swore they would never do.

Ah ah 

What it means: Ah ah expresses disgust or contempt- basically the opposite of bah bah. You don’t necessarily have to say ah twice. You could do one or even three or more depending on how disgusted you are. 

!اَه اَه چه بوی بدی میاید 

Ah ah che bu-ye badi miyâd.

Yuck!/Ugh! What a terrible smell!

Âkh

What it means: When you hurt yourself, like you stub your toe or something, you say âkh!, like “ouch!” You might even hear this one as okh (اوخ) or ây (ای).

آخ پایم! چه کار میکنی؟ حواست کجاست؟

Âkh pâm! Che kâr mikoni? Havâset kojâst?

Ouch my foot! What are you doing? What are you thinking? 

Another way to use it is to mean something like, “Oh, shoot!” or “Dang it!” when you forget something.

.آخ! دیدی چی شد؟ یادم رفت

Âkh didi chi shod, yâdam raft.

Oh, shoot! Look at that! I totally forgot!

There’s also âkh joon, like the English “oh goodie!” which is more child-like.

Âkheysh

What it means: Âkheysh expresses relief. When I did my Valiasr walk, I had been on my feet for a few hours- and all uphill, might I add! We arrived at Mellat Park, one of our resting points, and I took a seat on the bench and immediately let out an, “Âkheysh!” That’s when my friend turned to me and laughed, “You just can’t translate âkheysh into English, can you?”

.آخیش! قربان دستت. مرسی که گفتی بنشینی. پاهایم دیگه داشت میترکید

Âkheysh ghorbun-e dastet, merci ke gofti beshini. Pâhâm dige dâsht miterekid!

Whew [what a relief]! Thank you for telling me to sit. My feet were really tired.

Another example might be that you’re really thirsty. You finally get home and drink a tall glass of ice cold water, and after that last sip, you sigh, “âkhesyh!”

!آخیش! خیلی تشنه ام بود

Âkheysh! Kheyli teshnam bud!

[What a relief!] I was so thirsty!

Âkhee

What it means: This interjection is used when you feel for someone, sort of like “awww”. 

.گربه را نگاه! گیر کرده آن بالا

.آخیییی، نازی

Gorbaro negâh! Gir karde un bâlâ!

Akheee, nâzi.

Look at the cat! It’s stuck up there.

Awww, poor thing! 

Vâ

What it means: Vâ expresses shock in the sense of disbelief.

وا! مگر ساعت چند است؟ 

.دیگر بی خیال دیر شد

!ای بابا

Vâ! Mage sâat chand-e?

Dige bikhiâl, dir shod.

Ey bâbâ!

Oh! What time is it?

Forget about it. It’s too late now.

Aw, man!

Ey vây

What it means: Ey vây expresses shock and dismay like “oh no!” or “Oh my gosh!” Sounds very similar to “oy vey,” doesn’t it? You may also hear it as vây or ey vây-e bar man (woe to me!), which expresses self-condemnation.

ای وای! ساعت چنداست؟

۱۲:۳۰

Ey vây! Sâat chand-e?

Davâzdah-o nim-e.

Oh no! What time is it?

It’s 12:30.

ای وای بر من! یادم رفت بهش زنگ بزنم. حالا میدانی چی فکر میکند؟

Ey vây-e bar man! Yâdam raft behesh zang bezanam. Hâlâ miduni chi fekr mikone?

Oh shoot! I forgot to call him. Now what’ll he think!? 

Evâ

What it means: Evâ expresses surprise, but in a negative way (usually said by women). Once when my nephew was little, he said he wanted a sip of my sister’s coffee, and she jokingly said, “Little boys don’t drink coffee, evâ!” And that became a thing he loved to repeat- especially the evâ part. 

اِواا! چرا کتابم را برداشتی؟

!خوب ببخشید حالا مگر چی شد. نخوردمش که

Evâ cherâ ketâbamo vardâshti!?

Khob bebakhshid. Hâlâ mage chi shod? Nakhordamesh ke!

Hey! Why’d you take my book!

Well sorry. Nothing happened. It’s not like I ate it!

Nooch

What it means: No. The “nooch” sound is made by sort of sucking your tongue and is often accompanied by the eyebrow raise and a slight nick of the head to mean “no”. Seems a little extra when you could just as easily say na. 

برایش ایمیل کردی؟

(نُچّ)

…ای بابا

Barâsh email kardi?

(Nooch)

Ey bâbâ!

Did you email it to him?

(No)

Oh, man…

Nooch nooch nooch

What it means: Take the tongue sucking from above and repeat it over and over. This transforms it from “no” to expressing disbelief or shame. Like if (zabunam lâl) you’re watching the news and they’re giving the death toll of a terrible disaster somewhere, you shake your head and make this noise. Just a few days ago, I was in the cinema, and during a particularly tense scene, I heard the guy behind me doing this, which made me smile.

.نُچّ نُچّ نُچّ) اصلا فکرش را نمی کردم)

(Nooch nooch nooch) Aslan fekresho nemikardam. 

Tsk tsk. I never would have imagined.

Ahhh

What it means: This one expresses surprise, like “No way!” or “I can’t believe it!”

!اَاَ بابا تو دیگه کی هستی؟ دمت گرم

Ahhh, bâbâ to dige ki hasti? Damet garm!

No way! Look at you! You’re awesome!

Sss (Hiss)

What it means: This is just like the English, “shhh” (and the hand gesture is the same, too).

.هیس! بچه خواب است

Ssss! Bache khâb-e.

Shhh! The baby is asleep.

Ooo

What it means: I think the best way to explain the meaning of this is, “Oh, for crying out loud!” I mostly associate this one with women, but I’ve been told that it’s not necessarily so. But even so, I remember hearing this on the series Shahgoosh, where Marjaneh Golchin’s character goes to the police station. Security asks if she has anything in her bag that could be used as a weapon and run through a list of items, and she says, “Ooooo! Haft khân-e rostam râh andâkhtin!” (Oh for crying out loud! What is this? The seven labors of Rostam?— You can see the clip and meaning of this idiom in this post.)

And not too long ago, I was at my uncle’s house in my dad’s village of Taleghan. A random woman was picking walnuts off of my uncle’s tree, and when the doorman told her not too, this snotty woman acted all offended saying, “Oooooo [oh for crying out loud] I only took 2!” (What this incredibly rude woman didn’t realize, though, is that walnuts are practically currency in Taleghan. And there’s some hardcore walnut etiquette there, the most important being that you never- EVER- pick steal a walnut from another man’s tree. She was clearly a “gharibeh” [stranger], as Taleghanis call anyone who is not from there.) 

.اُوه حالا مگر چی شده؟ یک دانه همش بیشتر برداشتم

Ooo hâlâ mage chi shode? Ye dune hamash bishtar vardâshtam.

Oh for crying out loud. Nothing happened. I only took one.

Final thoughts

Some of these can definitely be used interchangeably, like eh, vây, ey vây, âkh, etc., especially depending on the context, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on them. As with many of my posts, this is meant to merely bring your attention to these Persian interjections and maybe give them a little more meaning. And you’ll definitely get the hang of it the more you hear them. So, have you come across any of these before? Or maybe know of some similarities with other languages or cultures?

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