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Interjections when speaking Spanish

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wafflestomp
May 07, 2012, 07:53 PM
What are some good ones? I have to do do an oral presentation tomorrow and I find that I draw a blank a lot, and don't say anything at times. In English for example we say things such as "like" or "umm" or "well, basically, uhh"... do you guys catch my drift? What are some good ones in Spanish? I found out about o sea and it seems like a great one. What are some others?

Thanks again so much. You guys have been so helpful for my learning process. I've come so far since I joined.

Rusty
May 08, 2012, 06:57 AM
In English, these are called 'fillers'. In Spanish, they're called muletillas.

You should try to avoid using fillers in both languages ;), but here is a non-exhaustive list of fillers in Spanish.

e (eh - ehhh)
este
o sea (misspelled osea)
pues
bueno
bueno, pues
mmm
¿Vale?
¿No?
¿Sí?
¿Ya?
¿Viste?
¿Cierto?
¿Entiendes?
digamos
es decir
fíjate
mira
¿Me explico?

This site (http://muletillas-mendo.blogspot.com/) gives examples of several muletillas listed above, and others I didn't list.
This site (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muletilla) provides a number of muletillas, some listed according to region.

chileno
May 08, 2012, 07:06 AM
What are some good ones? I have to do do an oral presentation tomorrow and I find that I draw a blank a lot, and don't say anything at times. In English for example we say things such as "like" or "umm" or "well, basically, uhh"... do you guys catch my drift? What are some good ones in Spanish? I found out about o sea and it seems like a great one. What are some others?

Thanks again so much. You guys have been so helpful for my learning process. I've come so far since I joined.

Be careful with that "o sea" which means "in other words".

laepelba
May 10, 2012, 06:19 PM
My Spanish tutor has actually (and frequently) criticized me for saying "um" too much. She says it is the sure sign of an English-speaker attempting to speak Spanish. I'm working on it. It's a bad habit, even in English.

aleCcowaN
May 10, 2012, 06:33 PM
My Spanish tutor has actually (and frequently) criticized me for saying "um" too much. She says it is the sure sign of an English-speaker attempting to speak Spanish. I'm working on it. It's a bad habit, even in English.

You might say "eeeeee", the Spanish equivalent of "ummmm" :D. A bad habit most of us had to get rid of as children.