# mah, beh, uffa, ehi ...



## _sandra_

Ciao ragazzi,

Mi servirebbe un po' d'aiuto... Non riesco ad usare in modo giusto tutte quelle parole, esclamazioni o interiezioni, come: 'mah',' be' ', 'uffa', 'ehi' (ed altre che vi vengono in mente). Se potete darmi alcun esempio quando se le usa, saro' molto grata  

Grazie tante!


----------



## F4sT

hi sandra

_--mah non mi sembra così tanto brutto!_ ( quel mah significa qualcosa tipo: insomma, a guardar bene...)
_--beh (insomma..) te lo sei proprio cercato!_
_--uffa non riesco a dormire_  ( è quando qualcosa non va come vorresti.. è un specie di lamento, un esclamazione di disperazione.. avvolte anche di irritazione..)
--ehi attento! ( un esclamazione per attirare  l'attenzione...)
 spero ti siano d'aiuto


----------



## silvietta

_sandra_ said:
			
		

> Ciao ragazzi,
> 
> Mi servirebbe un po' d'aiuto... Non riesco ad usare in modo giusto tutte quelle parole, esclamazioni o interiezioni, come: 'mah',' be' ', 'uffa', 'ehi' (ed altre che vi vengono in mente). Se potete darmi alcun esempio quando se le usa, saro' molto grata
> 
> Grazie tante!


 
Ciao Sandra,
in realtà bisogna stare molto attenti nell'usare le interiezioni e/o le esclamazioni. Bisogna, intanto, stabilire se il tuo dubbio si riferisce alla lingua parlata o a quella scritta. Nel secondo caso sono più comuni nei fumetti e sarebbe meglio evitarle in un qualunque testo di prosa, nel primo caso quelle che tu hai scritto indicano: dubbio (mah...) es. Hai deciso di andare al mare? Mah... non ne sono ancora certo
accondiscendenza (be'...)  be' guarda io penso che....
noia, rammarico (uffa...) Uffa avevo deciso di andare al mare e piove
"Ehi" è forse la più "brutta" perché rappresenta un tentativo di richiamare l'attenzione poco cortese es. ehi! mi stai ascoltando?...
Sono nuova di questo "luogo", spero di esserti stata utile..
Silvietta


----------



## leenico

Puoi qualcuno tradurre queste parole in inglese?


----------



## _sandra_

Grazie F4sT e Silvietta!
si che il mio dubbio si riferiva alla lingua parlata. Penso di capirle meglio adesso... Ma sono sicura che  hai ragione Silvietta che si deve esserre attenti usandole.. ci vuole un po' d' intuizione mi pare.. ti viene in mente qualche altro usato spesso? 
Anchio sono nuova qui..e volevo chiedere ancora dell' altra traduzione ma nn sono sicura se lo posso fare nello stesso thread.. ok.. lo provero' Cosa significa 'Sei proprio tosta' - non posso trovarlo in dizionario,  mi pare che sia volgare.. 

Grazie tante e ciao!
Sandra


----------



## V52

leenico said:
			
		

> Puoi qualcuno tradurre queste parole in inglese?



Dear friends
May I try to  translate?

Mah!  =  Who knows?

Beh.. =  Well...     (Beh is a contraction    of  "Bene" = Well)

Ehi   =   Hey  

Uffa = That's enough! or Enough! (meaning "I'm bored") The word "Uffa" comes from a very ancient origin (14th century); it was a latin abbreviation "A.U.F." = "Ad Usum Fabricae" In that century Vatican State obtained from all other italian states, the total tax exemption for all goods necessary to the building of St Peter's Basilic (named Fabrica Sancti Petri). All goods destinated to Rome were marked with the abbreviation AUF. They were definitely a huge quantity every day.. Auf was written on every cow, every sheep, every sack, every bag...so the custom officers spent their days saying "Auf! Auf! Auf!" 
Ciao 
Vittorio52


----------



## erick

Grazie Vittorio52, molto interessante!


----------



## V52

You are welcome
Vitt52


----------



## disegno

Vittorio52 said:
			
		

> Uffa = That's enough! or Enough! (meaning "I'm bored") The word "Uffa" comes from a very ancient origin (14th century)Vittorio52



Ciao Vittorio...anch'io trovo questa spiegazione molto interessante! Grazie. è vero che imparo qualcosa nuova ogni giorno!


----------



## leenico

Grazie Vittorio...Forse qualche giornio parlaro bene come te.


----------



## alahay

Should any of those informal italian expressions undergo any translation at all? If so what would their best english translation be?

My guess is:

boh = duh
eh = mm, hmm
mbeh = so
uffa = damn, sh*t

Thanks,
Al


----------



## ElaineG

I find all these wonderful expressions to be very contextual.  Where I lived in Sicily, we used "boh" in particular in many many ways.  Perhaps the most common occurrence was when I asked "female"-type questions that my fidanzato didn't feel like answering (perhaps like the English mmhmm or uh huh): "Vuoi uscire colle mie amiche stasera?"  "Boh."  "A che cosa stai pensando?" "Boh."  But it could also mean "oops" or "damn", "Ho già perso il mio nuovo cellulare!  Boh!"

So I wouldn't translate these expressions without a context -- once you have a context then you can find the right English match.


----------



## alahay

My experience with _"boh"_ was limited to expressing ignorance or no desire to answer as you mentioned. In most situations I interpreted boh as _"e che ne so io!"_ or as _"e che c'entro, io"_ as for your last example contribution _"Ho gia' perso il nuovo cellulare, boh"_ I would  guess boh meant to express confusion just like _"e che ne so io"_ (piuttosto confusa e delusa)... Still this is my opinion and it's totally subjective.


----------



## Silvia

boh = "I don't know" or "who knows"
eh? = uh?
eh... = well...
mbeh? = so? This one is not Italian, it's a dialectal form for ebbene or be'/bene
uffa... = so unfair... what boredome

If you have better options, please write them.

I am not sure about duh, I've been told I was using it the wrong way... so any clarification would be welcome


----------



## uinni

Silvia said:
			
		

> boh = "I don't know" or "who knows"
> eh? = uh?
> eh... = well...
> mbeh? = so? This one is not Italian, it's a dialectal form for ebbene or be'/bene
> uffa... = so unfair... what boredome
> 
> If you have better options, please write them.
> 
> I am not sure about duh, I've been told I was using it the wrong way... so any clarification would be welcome


 
"mbeh" actually is "*'mbeh*/*'mbè"*; it is a short (oral) form of "embeh/embè", which means "so what?".

Uinni


----------



## Silvia

We're saying the same thing, Uinni


----------



## uinni

Silvia said:
			
		

> We're saying the same thing, Uinni





			
				Silvia said:
			
		

> _mbeh? = so? This one is not Italian, it's a dialectal form for ebbene or be'/bene_


But it is Italian (though an Italian exclamation) 

Uinni


----------



## Silvia

Uinni, I can say ahò, I can say ehiò... they are all interjections, but they are not in Italian


----------



## lsp

Silvia said:
			
		

> Uinni, I can say ahò, I can say ehiò... they are all interjections, but they are not in Italian


I'm not sure I get this part of the discussion. What is being decided/debated?  It _is_ something Italians say, that alahay (among others) heard, and questioned the meaning. We translate a lot of slang, especially American slang, in this forum, often years ahead of its finding its way into the dictionary.


----------



## Silvia

Mbeh is not an Italian interjection, while all the other ones that were mentioned are. Does it make sense?

Anyway, I checked in a dictionary, embè is said to be short and informal for ebbene, as I said in my previous post, that would confirm that mbeh is more of a dialectal interjection.


----------



## uinni

Silvia said:
			
		

> Mbeh is not an Italian interjection, while all the other ones that were mentioned are. Does it make sense?
> 
> Anyway, I checked in a dictionary, embè is said to be short and informal for ebbene, as I said in my previous post, that would confirm that mbeh is more of a dialectal interjection.


 
Mah! Nel discorso le apocopi/procopi sono usate sovente...

Uinni


----------



## uinni

lsp said:
			
		

> I'm not sure I get this part of the discussion. What is being decided/debated?  It _is_ something Italians say, that alahay (among others) heard, and questioned the meaning. We translate a lot of slang, especially American slang, in this forum, often years ahead of its finding its way into the dictionary.


 
Silvia is declaring 'mbè (or its omophones) is not an Italian word. It is not a trivial question for as you may know, Italians do speak different languages/dialects, so it may happen that a word you hear in some part of Italy is not understood in other regions.
Of course, it may happen that some dialect words become (sometimes slightly aletered) part of Italian (e.g: ciao comes from "Venetian" and means "slave").
In this case I mantain "*'mbè?*" is the of Italian shortening of "embè?" (which is itself a "shortening" of "ebbene?") but she does not agree.

Uinni.


----------



## Silvia

Yes, Uinni, and I think we agree


----------



## Elisa68

Silvia said:
			
		

> I am not sure about duh, I've been told I was using it the wrong way... so any clarification would be welcome


Isn't it an expression to say: _Hello??????? Are you dumb or what_? or _It it clear enough_?
If it is so in Italian I'd say: 
_Pronto?!!!???_
_Ma sei scemo_? (not very polite!)
_Ci sei?_

Che cosa ne pensate?


----------



## ElaineG

> Isn't it an expression to say: _Hello??????? Are you dumb or what_? or _Isn't it clear enough_?


 
Yes, or you can say it about yourself: "I looked all over the house for my keys for an hour, and then realized they were in my pocket.  Duh!"  
(Sono proprio scema?)


----------



## Elisa68

ElaineG said:
			
		

> Yes, or you can say it about yourself: "I looked all over the house for my keys for an hour, and then realized they were in my pocket. Duh!"
> (Sono proprio scema?)


Thank you,  Elaine (also for the correction!)


----------



## alahay

lsp said:
			
		

> I'm not sure I get this part of the discussion. What is being decided/debated?  It _is_ something Italians say, that alahay (among others) heard, and questioned the meaning. We translate a lot of slang, especially American slang, in this forum, often years ahead of its finding its way into the dictionary.



Right! But "heard" is not very generous! Many people use those slang expressions without even knowing their meanings! I myself can't define them or translate them to english yet I am very familiar with their usage. I was also reminded with *mah! *and a less common expression* mbooh! *


----------



## Elisa68

Again on _Duh!_
Could it also be translated as:
Ma va? (Sarcastic)
Sai che novita'!
Davvero!
?
Context:
A: Mario e' proprio bello. Con lui mi trovo molto bene. Siamo in sintonia su tutto. Credo di esserne innamorata!
B: Davvero?!(ma va?) Non me ne ero accorta!


----------



## Silvia

Beh dovrebbe essere scritto, più correttamente, be' (come forma tronca di "bene"). Ma anche beh è entrato a far parte del nostro vocabolario ormai.

Uffa mi sembra più onomatopeica che altro, non voglio scartare la tua fonte Vittorio, ma neanche legittimarla al 100%. Questa parola potrebbe essere tradotta in inglese in tanti modi diversi, alcuni esempi li avevo fatti in questo thread.


----------



## kan3malato

> "Ehi" è forse la più "brutta" perché rappresenta un tentativo di richiamare l'attenzione poco cortese es. ehi! mi stai ascoltando?...


Ciao
Ehi = Hey
In effetti ho notato che quando i miei amici Inglesi mi chiamano su SMN messenger,molto spesso alla prima chiamata invece di dire"HI!" o "Hello!" dicono "Hey" e mi suona sempre come dire" sono un'ora che ti chiamo ma dove sei?perché non rispondi?"mi da sempre l'impressione come un senso d'impazienza o di irritazione.
Ma evidentemente per loro suona differente o no?
Grazie


----------



## Silvia

Infatti in inglese è una forma di saluto  E' un false friend tutto sommato...


----------



## tridentina

Do anch'io il mio contributo:

_mah_ esprime perplessità o indecisione. Es. "Che ne pensi dell'ultimo romanzo di Dan Brown?" "Mah, non saprei"

_Beh_ di solito si usa per contrastare o introdurre un nuovo punto di vista. Es. "Detesto i cinema multisala" "Beh, però effettivamente offrono molti vantaggi"
(vorrei precisare che _Beh_, per quanto mi risulta, è totalmente diverso dalla forma tronca _be'_! beh è l'interiezione, _be'_ è la forma tronca di _bene_ che si usa in espressioni come _va be'_. E' quindi del tutto sbagliato scrivere _va beh_, mentre è corretto _va be'_).

_Uffa_ esprime disappunto, stanchezza, irritazione, svogliatezza. Es. "Uffa, mi sono macchiata la camicia!" (irritazione); "Uffa, non ho voglia di andare al lavoro stamattina!" (stanchezza/svogliatezza).

_Ehi_ si usa per richiamare l'attenzione o per intimidire qualcuno. Es. "Ehi! Hai perso il portafoglio!" (richiamare l'attenzione); "Ehi! Ti ho detto di smetterla." (intimidire).

spero di essere stata utile!
ciao!!


----------



## fabry2811

Ma _Uffa!_ non si può tradurre con _Pfew_?


----------



## kan3malato

fabry2811 said:


> Ma _Uffa!_ non si può tradurre con _Pfew_?


Ciao
Maybe do you mean "phew"?
If so  I think you are right http://www.wordreference.com/enit/phew!.


----------



## fabry2811

Yes, I was wrong! I meant phew!!

Thanks!


----------



## GavinW

kan3malato said:


> Ciao
> Maybe do you mean "phew"?
> If so I think you are right http://www.wordreference.com/enit/phew!.


 
As far as I know, "phew!" never coresponds to "uffa!"
Phew expresses:

a) relief
"Phew! That was close!" ("I'm glad I didn't have a car crash just now")
b) tiredness from physical exertion, or from too much sun etc
"Phew! It's pretty hot out in the sun, isn't it!"
c) being impressed
"Phew! Look at the muscles on that guy!"

Uffa has already been described well in this thread. I don't see the correspondence with phew.


----------



## andrinor

The closest translation I can think of to 'uffa' in English would be 'oh man!' or perhaps 'come on!' or even 'uuh'...but only in the context of disappointment or sometimes minor frustration, not in real annoyance or anger.  I've heard it used often by children who aren't getting what they want...it's vaguely childish even when adults use it, but often in that case also a bit tongue-in-cheek; that is, to some extent, playing at being childish for the sake of being funny.


----------



## GavinW

andrinor said:


> The closest translation I can think of to 'uffa' in English would be 'oh man!' or perhaps 'come on!' or even 'uuh'...but only in the context of disappointment or sometimes minor frustration, not in real annoyance or anger. I've heard it used often by children who aren't getting what they want...it's vaguely childish even when adults use it, but often in that case also a bit tongue-in-cheek; that is, to some extent, playing at being childish for the sake of being funny.


 
Yes, exactly. "Bother" comes to mind. Or even "botheration". But that's probably BE, not AE.


----------



## 1rubyruby

Hello all..

I always thought "mah" was a bit negative expression, like you would say it when you're a bit irritated by the subject or don't want to answer. Am I completely lost?

(I've been reading these forums for a long time, finally decided to sign up! )


----------



## GavinW

1rubyruby said:


> Hello all..
> 
> I always thought "mah" was a bit negative expression, like you would say it when you're a bit irritated by the subject or don't want to answer. Am I completely lost?
> 
> (I've been reading these forums for a long time, finally decided to sign up! )


 
Welcome aboard!
Mah is used in lots of ways, some of them negative. A lot of the meanign is derived from the tone of voice (difficult to capture in print...). The previous forero was right: Mah is used also for perplexity and indecision. I would add also: for surprise ("Mah! E tu da dove sei spuntato fuori?")


----------



## avantasia

Hi! You can use "mah" to express something negative like: 
-Ti è piaciuto il film?
-Mah...Ho visto di meglio!

Can be also related to something not really negative, but not wholly (?) positive...


----------



## demepa

Silvia said:


> boh = "I don't know" or "who knows"
> eh? = uh?
> eh... = well...
> mbeh? = so? This one is not Italian, it's a dialectal form for ebbene or be'/bene
> uffa... = so unfair... what boredome
> 
> If you have better options, please write them.
> 
> I am not sure about duh, I've been told I was using it the wrong way... so any clarification would be welcome




Hi 
I'm Italian, Roman, to be precise!

1_ mbeh? or embè? = and then? so what?

2_  eh = Denotes surprise, depending on the tone in which it is pronounced: eh, but what a beauty! disapproval: eh, but what a horror!; pain: eh, but what a disgrace!; doubt, perplexity: eh, what can I do?
Intensifier coupled to "VIA":  eh via, forget it!
In a questioning tone, it indicates great wonder,  don't want to pay eh?
In sentences with a question mark, indicating approval or confirmation request hopeful: this wine is good he? How to answer if you don't understand the question, instead of "What did you say?" "eh?"
3_ boh = I don't know! I dunno

4_ uffa = what a bore! phew!


----------



## chipulukusu

I subscribe demepa's translations, but I just add a warning for our non italian friends. _Boh _it is not particularly polite. It is perfectly fine between friends or family meaning a genuine _I don't know_, but it can be easily understood by a stranger as a _can't be bothered_ or as a _whatever. _Absolutely to avoid in formal contexts.


----------



## PatsRule

demepa said:


> eh = Denotes surprise, depending on the tone in which it is pronounced: eh, but what a beauty! disapproval: eh, but what a horror!; pain: eh, but what a disgrace!; doubt, perplexity: eh, what can I do? *In NYC, we'd use either "eh" or "oy"*
> In a questioning tone, it indicates great wonder,  don't want to pay eh? *That's exactly how a NY'er would say it*
> In sentences with a question mark, indicating approval or confirmation request hopeful: this wine is good he? *Right?*
> How to answer if you don't understand the question, instead of "What did you say?" "eh?" *huh?*
> uffa = what a bore! phew! *OMG! or just UGH! *



I can't speak for all Americans, but in NYC, we use many of the expressions/hand gestures used in Italy (that's where they came from, after all)


----------

