How to say 欸

  • Traditional characters: 欸
  • Pinyin (Taiwan standard): éi
  • Zhuyin (bopomofo): ㄟˊ
  • Meaning: hey! / oh! (getting attention or reacting)

Hear it in a Taiwan accent:

欸 in example sentences

Real lines from CiaoSpeak’s graded stories, each with pinyin, an English translation and Taiwan-accent audio.

欸！等一下！

éi děng yí xià

Hey! Wait!

From the story 再說一次！ (Say It Again!)

台南？現在七月欸，台南比台北還熱！

Tái nán xiàn zài qī yuè èi Tái nán bǐ Tái běi hái rè

Tainan? It's July — Tainan is even hotter than Taipei!

From the story 台南還是花蓮？ (Tainan or Hualien?)

欸…火車票一千，高鐵票也差不多一千。一樣貴。

èi huǒ chē piào yì qiān gāo tiě piào yě chà bù duō yì qiān yí yàng guì

Huh... train ticket, a thousand. High-speed rail, also about a thousand. Same price.

From the story 台南還是花蓮？ (Tainan or Hualien?)

現在？現在三點欸。你想中暑嗎？

xiàn zài xiàn zài sān diǎn èi nǐ xiǎng zhòng shǔ ma

Now? It's three o'clock. You want heatstroke?

From the story 三十六度 (Thirty-Six Degrees)

欸，你臉色好差，怎麼了？

èi nǐ liǎn sè hǎo chà zěn me le

Hey — you look awful. What's wrong?

From the story 準備簡報 (Getting Ready for the Presentation)

Where 欸 is taught

  • Unit level: TOCFL Novice 2 (CiaoSpeak’s placement, not the official TOCFL word list)
  • Unit: Everyday Phrases
  • Lesson: Filler Words & Reactions
  • Taught just before: 真的假的
  • Taught just after: 對啊