# ahh



## alc112

Hello!
How are you?

I often think when i'm chatting with a non-spanish-speaker that he/she doesnt understand what I mean with Ahh.
I want to know if hat sound is used or not in other languages.
Ahh= i see (what you mean)

Thanks in adance
Cheers


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## panjabigator

Panjabi--acchaa.  Said with the same inflection as in "ohhhhhhhhhh."


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## linguist786

Yes, in *English* it's the same.

I think in *Hindi/Urdu*, people would be much likelier to say "Achchaa..!"

In *Gujarati*, there's so many. We mostly just say "Oh right.." in an indian accent lol. We can also say "Oh éwu...!" (lit. "oh, (it's) like that...!". Another one: "Oh OK" (but the "o" in "OK" is pronounced like in "archeology".


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## Maja

In Serbian we say *AHA* (Cyrillic: *АХА*) when we realize smt.!


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## elroy

The Arabic utterance is identical to the Spanish one - at least in Palestinian Arabic.


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## ukuca

In Turkish: When chatting if someone says "Ahh" we would understood that he had hurt himself or something occured by mistake. We use *"hmmm"* or *"haa"* for "I see" or for "I'm thinking" instead.


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## Whodunit

In German it's either "*ah*" or - which I consider even more common - "*aha*" or "*ach so*".


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## alc112

Whodunit said:
			
		

> In German it's either "*ah*" or - which I consider even more common - "*aha*" or "*ach so*".



This question came up when yesterdy I wrote you "I see" somewhere in the msn.

Aha I would say it's a sound we do to say "yes".


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## Etcetera

In Russian, we say *ага *(aga; the second vowel is stressed).


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## robbie_SWE

In Swedish it's "*aha*" or "*jaha*". In Romanian we say "*aha*". 

 robbie


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## Whodunit

alc112 said:
			
		

> This question came up when yesterdy I wrote you "I see" somewhere in the msn.
> 
> Aha I would say it's a sound we do to say "yes".


 
Yes, "aha" can mean "yeah, I see". I think "ah" (aah, ahh etc.) sounds rather English, whereas "ach so" is very German.


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## Confused Linguist

*Bengali:* Oh achchhaa!


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## Outsider

linguist786 said:
			
		

> Yes, in *English* it's the same.


It seems to me that in English "*Oh*" is used more often than "*Ah*", to show understanding.


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## Whodunit

Outsider said:
			
		

> It seems to me that in English "*Oh*" is used more often than "*Ah*", to show understanding.


 
In my experience they use "ah ok" to show understanding. "Oh" sounds more like one is surprised.


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## Outsider

But what about the phrase *"Oh, I see"*? (Not "Ah, I see".)


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## Whodunit

Outsider said:
			
		

> But what about the phrase *"Oh, I see"*? (Not "Ah, I see".)


 
Well, I think a native speaker could explain it better. I would use "Oh, I see" to express first surprise and then understanding, as in:

A: Would you like to visit Britain with me next year?
B: Oh, waht a question. Why would you want me to?
A: Because I have gotten the chance to go to Gt. Britain for one ýear, and I don't want to be alone.
B: Oh, I see ...

"B" expresses surprise and understanding, as far as I know. 

"Ah, I see" sounds redundant, but not wrong. "Ah ok" sounds most natural to me.


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## alc112

I think ah , I see doesnt sound "good" because thee're 2 vowel followed


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## hohodicestu

In the North of Mexico, we say "aja"

Saludos


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## Whodunit

alc112 said:
			
		

> I think ah , I see doesnt sound "good" because thee're 2 vowel followed


 
Which is not a rare occurence in English. By the way, in the expression "oh, I see", two vowels are juxtaposed, too.


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## apmoy70

In Greek it's *«αχά»* but more of [aˈha] or even [aˈɦa] than [aˈxa]


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## Dymn

hohodicestu said:


> In the North of Mexico, we say "aja"


I'd use "_ah_" and "_aha_" differently. The meaning of "_ah_" is just as alc112 described, when you suddenly understand something. 

"_Aha_" is when you come to understand something too, but you use that in a cheeky way, like "_Aha! Now I've got you!_" (example taken from Wiktionary). You can also use it in an ironical way when somebody is explaining you something but you disagree with them, like "_Aha... keep on talking [I'm not paying attention to you anyway]_".

That's how I'd use it in Catalan and Spanish (you could use "_ahà_" and "_ajá_" respectively to adapt the spelling).


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian we use it in the same way. 

When we don't understand or hear what you are saying, we say "ah?!"

While in Italian it's used "eh?!" (but not in Sardinia, we still use "ah" also when we speak Italian.)


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## clamor

In French you can say ''Aah'', ''Ahh'' (pronounced [a:]) with an unusual emphasis in pitch.


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## nimak

In Macedonian is used *аха* (aha) [a'xa], more like [a'ɦa], to express _"I see (what you mean)"_.

*аха* (aha) _particle _- to give an affirmative response
*аха* (aha) _еxclamation _- to express surprise, wonder, ridicule, joy etc.
*ах* (ah) _еxclamation _- to express different moods and feelings (pain, sadness, surprise, wonder, joy, anger, etc.).


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## Awwal12

Etcetera said:


> In Russian, we say *ага *(aga; the second vowel is stressed).


It should be noted that:
1) "г" here actually represents the marginal phoneme /ɦ/; it is hard to imagine anybody pronouncing "ага" with the plosive /g/;
2) "ага" in Russian also means "yes" ("да") in casual informal speech, and otherwise is close to English "aha" (an exclamation of affirmed expectations, I'd say).

What the OP meant is closer to "а!" ([a:]).


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## bibax

Czech:

*aha* [a'ɦa] or *ach tak* ['ax'tak] (= German _*ach so*_);


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