# oops



## clevermizo

Just curious - is there a good Arabic equivalent for the expression "oops!" in English? (As in "Oops! I made a mistake.")

Thanks.


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## zooz

I can't think of any in MSA.
In Syrian dialect, I think the closest ones would be: *أخ*, *له له* or *العمى*.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic the closest equivalent would be يي (pronounced _yii_ or - more emphatically - _yiyy_).

We also use له له (_lah lah_) and العمى (_il3ama_) - the latter more rarely - but unlike "oops" له له isn't usually used as a spontaneous reaction to a mishap. العمى can be used that way but as I said it's rare and mostly used by women.

أخ I would equate with "ouch" - i.e. it's mostly used when the person is in pain.


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## clevermizo

Neat. Thanks. Is that العمى as in "blindness"?


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## elroy

Yes, that would be the literal translation.


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## ayed

clevermizo said:


> Just curious - is there a good Arabic equivalent for the expression "oops!" in English? (As in "Oops! I made a mistake.")
> 
> Thanks.


Badawi dialect:

*أفاء ! أخطيت*
*وجع ! أخطيت*


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## zooz

ayed said:


> Badawi dialect:
> *أفاء ! *



I say this's a decent one for 'oops' .

Though the *ء *is not often pronounced, AFAIK.


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## elroy

zooz said:


> I say this's a decent one for 'oops' .


 I just want to clarify that this is not used to mean "oops" in Palestinian Arabic.


> Though the *ء *is not often pronounced, AFAIK.


 In that case, I would emphatically advise against using it in Palestinian Arabic.   We use "afa" as a euphemism for the posterior!


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## ayed

elroy said:


> I just want to clarify that this is not used to mean "oops" in Palestinian Arabic.
> In that case, I would emphatically advise against using it in Palestinian Arabic.  We use "afa" as a euphemism for the posterior!


 *أفاء* our "afa"  is different from yours , Elroy.Your "afa" written as :
*أفى : قفى* Notice the broad difference


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## elroy

Yes, but in speech there's no difference.


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## nono_footballic

Well..in Egyptian Arabic, we say "yii" or "oofff" ..so it's like this "yii..ghelet" or "ooff.ghelet" (oops I made a mistake)


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## WadiH

elroy said:


> Yes, but in speech there's no difference.


 
Actually there is a slight difference.  The "f" in our "afa" is مفخّمة.


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## elroy

Wadi Hanifa said:


> The "f" in our "afa" is مفخّمة.


 I'm sorry, but I don't know what that means.   Could you explain?

(I have no idea how your "afa" is pronounced.  I was going off of the written form and the transliteration.)


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## ayed

elroy said:


> I'm sorry, but I don't know what that means.  Could you explain?
> 
> (I have no idea how your "afa" is pronounced. I was going off of the written form and the transliteration.)


 

Wadi Hanifa is right.As far I know and perceive is this :

1."a*f*a" is for a slight mistake 
2."a*ff*a" doubled"f"(as mentioned by Wadi) for a big mistake


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## Saleh Al-Qammaari

Can we say *Way7i*
*ويحي؟

*​


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## Andrew___

May I ask, how do we say "Oops" in MSA?

For example, "Oops, I meant to say "would", not "wood".

Is the best equivalent !اه or something like this?


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## elroy

Saleh Al-Qammaari said:


> Can we say *Way7i*
> *ويحي؟
> 
> *​


 To my ears, that's way too dramatic for "oops."


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## ayed

Al Sulhafa said:


> May I ask, how do we say "Oops" in MSA?
> 
> For example, "Oops, I meant to say "would", not "wood".
> 
> Is the best equivalent !اه or something like this?


 You can use:
*عفواً !كنت أقصد/أعني*


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