英単語やイディオム、句動詞など、英語を勉強してきた人ならある程度の語彙力はあるはず。

その中でも「間投詞」の存在はご存知でしょうか？これは、驚き、嫌悪、興奮、喜び、同意など、突然の感情や反応を表すために使う言葉や表現のこと。例えば、よく見かけることの多い「Wow」(驚きや喜び) や「Hmm」(考え中) などはまさにこの間投詞にあたります。
よく目にする割には、普段この間投詞をあまり気にしたことがない人も多いのではないでしょうか。

日本語でも、「へぇ～」「うんうん」など私達が何気なく使っている間投詞。英語でもこれらを使いこなせれば、英語ネイティブのような生き生きとした会話を繰り広げられますよ。

それでは、一般的によく使われる英語の間投詞と、それらを文中でどのように使用するかの例を早速見ていきましょう。

If you’ve been practicing English for a while now, you might know some useful English vocabulary—from business terms to idioms to phrasal verbs. But what do you know about interjections?

First of all, you probably use interjections without even knowing it. They’re very common in any language, not just English.

Okay, but what are they?

Interjections are words or expressions we use to express a sudden feeling or reaction, such as disgust, surprise, anger, excitement, delight, or agreement. These words, which are used more often in spoken language than in written text, are not grammatically connected to the other parts of a sentence. In other words, there are no rules about where to place them; they don’t have a specific spot.

Below, we list a few common English interjections and show you some examples of how you’d use them in a sentence.

Common English interjections

Argh

“This assignment is so frustrating! Argh!”

Aha

“Aha! There they are! I found my car keys!”

Ahem

“Ahem, I believe you cut in front of me in line.”

Ahh

“Ahh! That bird is flying straight for our heads!”

Awesome

“You got the job? Awesome!”

Aww

“Look at those cute little kittens! Aww.”

Boo

“We have a quiz tomorrow? Boo!”

Brr

“Brrr . . . it’s really cold this morning.”

Cool

“I didn’t know your dad was famous! Cool!”

Ew

“Ew. Don’t eat that soup. It tastes terrible.”

Great

“You want to help me move? Great! Can you be over at 10 o’clock?”

Hey

“Hey! I was sitting there!”

Hmm

“I’m not sure if there are any good Italian restaurants around here. Hmm . . . let me think.”

Jeez

“He wouldn’t let you stay home when you were sick? Jeez. What an unreasonable manager.”

Like

“Why don’t you come to my house at, like, six o’clock? We’ll eat at seven.”

Nice

“Nice! I’m so glad you can come on the trip with us!”

No

“She has to cancel the appointment? No!”

Oh

“Oh! Now I understand what you mean.”

Oh, man

“Oh, man—I’m sorry to hear about your cat. It’s stressful having a sick pet.”

Oh, no

“Oh, no! I locked my keys in the car!”

Okay

“Okay, sounds good. I can come over tomorrow to help you with the project.”

Oops

“I accidentally used salt in the cake instead of sugar. Oops!”

Ouch

“Ouch! Can you stop kicking me, please?”

Sure

“You’d like more salad? Sure. I’ll get you some.”

Ugh

“Ugh, what a dark, rainy day. I just want to stay in bed and do nothing.”

Uh oh

“Uh oh, I was supposed to be home an hour ago. I’m going to be in trouble!”

Um

“6 x 60 is . . . um . . . 360.”

Whoops

“Oh, you wanted to eat the last piece of pizza? Whoops!”

Woah

“Woah, the concert tickets are $300 each? That’s too much.”

Woohoo

“Woohoo! We won $5,000 in the lottery today!”

Wow

“Wow! You’re an incredible singer! I’m amazed.”

引用：List of Interjections in English / Andrea Byaruhanga

いかがでしたか？
これらの間投詞を使えば、たとえ英語であっても自分の感情を情緒的に伝えることができますよ。