Interjektionen.
Words that stand alone.
Most German words plug into the sentence. They take an ending, follow the word order rules, or agree with something else nearby. An interjection does none of that. It is a short burst of reaction, almost always one word, that sits outside the sentence and never changes form. Pain, surprise, relief, greetings, and the small words people reach for before they've even formed a sentence.
Pain, surprise, disgust
These are the most instinctive interjections, the sounds people make before thinking.
| Word | English |
|---|---|
| Au! / Aua! | ouch |
| Autsch! | ouch (sharper, sudden) |
| Igitt! / Bäh! | yuck, ugh |
| Huch! | whoops, oh |
| Boah! | wow, ugh (depends on tone) |
| Wow! | wow |
An interjection like this can be a complete utterance on its own, with its own exclamation mark, or it can open a sentence followed by a comma. Either way, nothing about the word itself changes.
- Au! Das tut weh. (Ouch! That hurts.)
- Igitt, das schmeckt furchtbar. (Yuck, that tastes terrible.)
Realization and hesitation
This group covers the sounds of thinking out loud: working something out, stalling for time, or reacting to new information.
| Word | English |
|---|---|
| Ach! | oh, ah (mild surprise or disappointment) |
| Ach so! | oh I see, now I get it |
| Aha! | aha, I see |
| Tja | well, what can you do |
| Äh / Ähm | uh, um |
| Hmm | hmm |
Ach so is worth singling out. It marks the exact moment something clicks: someone explains a confusing situation, and the response is Ach so, now everything makes sense. Tja does the opposite job: it shrugs at a situation that can't be changed.
Greetings, toasts, reactions
A whole set of interjections exist purely for social moments: arriving, leaving, raising a glass, or reacting to small talk.
| Word | English |
|---|---|
| Hallo | hi, hello |
| Tschüss | bye |
| Servus | hi or bye (southern Germany, Austria) |
| Prost! | cheers |
| Gesundheit! | bless you |
| Na? | so? how's it going (informal) |
| Na ja | well... I guess so |
Servus is unusual: the same word works as both hello and goodbye, and which one is meant depends entirely on the situation. Na on its own is a tiny, all-purpose check-in, somewhere between "so?" and "well?".
Doch! The interjection that contradicts
doch usually works inside a sentence, softening commands or coloring a statement. But on its own, as a one-word reply, Doch! becomes an interjection with one very specific job: contradicting a negative with a confident yes.
- "Du kommst nicht mit?" (You're not coming?) → Doch! (Yes, I am!)
- "Das hast du doch nicht gemacht!" (You didn't actually do that!) → Doch! (Yes I did!)
English needs a small workaround here, "Yes I am" or "Actually, I did", because a plain "yes" would sound like agreement with the negative. German has a single word that does the whole job.
doch's other job, woven into the middle of a sentence: doch. The word that pushes back.
No endings, no case, just punctuation
Interjections never decline, never conjugate, and never take a case. They are invariable, the same word every time, in every situation. The only thing that changes around them is punctuation: an exclamation mark if the interjection stands alone, or a comma if a full sentence follows.
- Au! Das tut weh.
- Ach so, jetzt verstehe ich.
- Na ja, vielleicht.
An interjection is a short reaction that sits outside the sentence: pain → Au!, realization → Ach so!, greetings → Servus, and the forceful Doch! that contradicts a negative question or statement. It never declines, never conjugates, and never takes a case. It either stands alone with an exclamation mark, or opens a sentence followed by a comma.