Kilo Lingo

/a/

Line drawing of ah
Coloured illustration of ah
#204 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

ah, oh (realisation or emotion)

Word origin

An interjection of imitative, expressive origin, found in Latin as ah and shared across many languages. It conveys surprise, recognition or emotion rather than carrying a lexical meaning.

Origin
Latin
Root
ah

Examples

, ' !

Ah, I understand now why you didn't come last night!

? .

Oh really? I had no idea you knew each other so well.

, cette !

Oh my, this day has been really tough!

, , ' .

Ah, there you are at last, we've been waiting for an hour.

, j' .

Oh no, I've left my keys on the kitchen table.

Ah est une interjection exprimant la surprise, la compréhension soudaine, l'admiration, la douleur ou le soulagement selon l'intonation et le contexte. Ah bon (really? is that so?) est l'une des réponses les plus neutres et polyvalentes du français - pouvant exprimer la surprise, la confirmation ou même le scepticisme léger.

Ah là là (oh dear, oh my goodness) est une exclamation émotionnelle très française pour réagir à une situation difficile ou étonnante. Ah oui ! (oh yes!, ah yes!) exprime une confirmation enthousiaste. Dans les dialogues écrits, ah est souvent répété (ah ah !) pour marquer une réaction plus forte.

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French · Free printables

ah: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 5.