Exclamations in Chinese - "sentence starters"

[leeyah]

There is this thread about expressing dissatisfaction by saying something like GONG which reminded me of the extensive usage of exclamations in Chinese. Some are similar to their English equivalents, some not. There may also be new ones, created from other words, as mentioned in the thread.

Anyway, I've been reading some comic books lately and came across many of these, of which some have multiple meanings & many of them can also be used as onomatopoeia. I made a short list of some of the sentence starters (I didn't go into 语气词 used for ending sentences here):

Wow (surprise & approval)

哇!

哇啊!

哇噢!

哇赛!

哗赛!

嚯! Wow!>>*嚯嚯大笑

Gotcha!

哈！Ha!

阿哈!Aha!

Hey!

喂!

嘿!

嗨！>>(also as a sigh)

various degrees of surprise:

哎呀! (neutral?)

哎哟! (not so pleasant)

噢哟！(neutral?)

嗨！ (pleasant)

哼 hmph disapproval

唉 yeah>>唉,我知道了

sigh>>她*唉唉地叹气

啊 arghh![one of many meanings]>>(surprise) >>啊， 不会吧!

咦！(surprise)

唷！(astonishment?)

哟嗬! (slight surprise) Oh!

嗬! Ah~

哼唷! Yo-ho~

Oh~:

哦 (doubt)

噢 (understanding)

哕 phew! (or a whistle)>>哕！不就是他嘛！Why! This is the guy! (It's him!)

唔。。。umm, emm, hmm

嗯。。。emm, hmm

嘘。。。(hush)

呃。。。 Why!>>呃！你还在这里啊！

sounds of laughter:

呵呵

哈哈

咔咔

嘻嘻

For many of these you should be able to hear the pronunciation here, but naturally it's much better if you can hear them in conversation.

Of course, there are many more exclamations in Chinese, so if anyone has come across any others in context which I've omitted here, pls post.

Feedback is welcome.

[leeyah]

补充一下: --- 感叹词 (exclamations) used in context. Note that the tone of a 感叹词 "changes" the intonation of the sentence & that there are more than one English equivalents in translation:

啊

á surprise & approval, same as 哇 wa>>(哇)啊，下雨了！(哇)/啊，太美了！Oh, it's raining! / Oh, how beautiful!

á question>>啊，你刚才说什么？/啊，到底怎么回事？Eh? What did you just say?/ Eh? What's it all about?

ǎ doubt>>啊，这怎么可能呢？Oh? (really?) How can that be?

à sudden understanding>>啊，原来是这样啊！/ 啊，就这样吧！Ah, so that's how it is!/ Ah, that's it!

poetic exclamation~oh!>> 啊，我的天！Oh my god!

哎

āi

surprise>>哎，你怎么来了？/哎，真怪，怎么突然哭了？Eh? What brings you here?/ Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?

disapproval>>哎，怎么搞的？/哎，话可不能这么说啊！Hey! This can't be!/Hey! How can you say that! (?)

warning>>哎，快看啊!

ái when you find something strange or suddenly remember something>>哎，他怎么没来？/哎，我想起来了 Hey, how come you didn't show up?/ Ah, yes! Now I remember!

唉

āi positive reply: Right !>>唉，我这就来。/唉，听见了/ 唉，这就对了

ài expressing grief (sigh) or disillusionment>>唉，这下全完了/ 唉，这么好的机会又错过了！--- 唉 can be translated with what a pity!...

嗯

én expressing doubt>>嗯？你怎么不说话了？What?! Say something！

èn agreement>>嗯，就照你说的办吧！Fine. We'll do it your way then.

ěn doubt/disagreement>>嗯，怎么会呢？/嗯，没那么严重吧？ Is that so? It can't be that serious!

嘘

shī >>嘘！别作声！Hush! Keep quiet!

xū (sigh)

哦 ó = 原来如此>>哦，原来是这样啊！So that's how it is!

噢ō >>噢，明白了！Oh, ok I got it!

嗬>>嗬，真棒！/嗬，这回考得真不错！Hey! I did great in this exam!

哼>>哼，有什么了不起？/哼，你走着瞧！Ha, what's so special about it?

嚯>>嚯，你们来得真早啊！/嚯，小明长这么高了啊？Why! You came too early!

呃 >>呃，怎么说呢，呃，你就看着办吧！

喂>>喂，等等我！/喂，找哪位？Hey! Wait for me! / Hey! Who are you looking for?

嚄>>嚄，找了半天，原来你在这儿啊？Why! I've been looking for you all day for you and you were here all the time!