Russian Interjection

Summary

Interjections are words and sounds that express an emotion, a feeling, or an exhortation like "wow!" and "amazing!" Interjections are also often a social expectation, such as greetings.

In-depth Explanation

What Is an Interjection?

Interjections express emotions, feelings, and reactions without describing them. Sometimes these are words, like "Amazing!" and other times they're just sounds, like "Ah!"

Interjections in Russian, like in English, follow no grammatical rules. They can be used at any appropriate time, like before an exciting statement or in response to something. Some interjections may be complete copies of words that are other parts of speeches, having originated from them.

Types of Russian Interjections

There are three types of interjections in Russian: emotional, imperative and etiquette interjections. The lists below are far from exhaustive.

Emotional Interjections

These words are used to exclusively express emotion, often as a reaction to something.

Ой! (oy) — Oops!
Ах! (akh) — Ah!, Oh! (used to express realization)
Ай! (ay) — Ouch!
Ух ты! (ukh ty) — Wow!
Боже мой! (bozhe moy) — Oh my God!
Здорово! (zdorovo!) — Awesome!
Класс! (klass) — Cool!
Ура! (ura) — Yay!
Фу! (fu) — Yuck!
Ужас! (uzhas) — Horror!
Ничего себе! (nichevo sebe) — No way!

Imperative Interjections

These words are said to prompt someone else to do something. They are by far the rarest of the three types.

Эй! (ey) — Hey! (used to get someone's attention)
Ну! (nu) — Come on!
Стоп! (stop) — Stop!
Тссс! (tsss) — Shh!

Etiquette Interjections

The usage of these words is dictated by social expectations.

Greetings:

Formal:

Здравствуйте! (zdravstvuyte) — Hello!
Доброе утро! (dobroye utro) — Good morning!
Добрый день! (dobryy den’) — Good afternoon!
Добрый вечер! (dobryy vecher) — Good evening!

Informal:

Привет! (privet) — Hey!
Здорово! (zdorovo) — Hey!
Здравствуй! (zdravstvuy) — Hello!

Goodbyes: