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Classic French Expression
| Meaning | wow, oh my, oh no | |
| Literally | oh there there | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[oh lah lah] |
| IPA | [o la la] | |
Usage notes: English speakers probably say it more than anyone, but oh là là is still a classic French phrase / exclamation used to express a fairly strong reaction, whether good or bad: excitement, surprise, disappointment, etc.
Par exemple…
| Oh là là ! C’est une grande nouvelle ! | Wow, that’s great news! | |
| Oh là là ! Quelle catastrophe ! | Oh no, what a disaster! |
Variations
It’s not uncommon for additional pairs of là to be tacked on, for emphasis. They tend to be spoken very quickly – the most I’ve ever heard was eight là‘s in rapid-fire French:
Oh là là là là là là là là !
But the best by far was when I heard someone say là four times, and then – apparently overcome with additional feeling – felt compelled to add two more:
Oh là là là là ! (pause) là là !
Rare: ouh là là, hou là là
In French, oh là là does not have any sort of sexy or risqué connotation, unlike the English version "ooh la la." See more garbled French expressions.
Somewhat synonymous
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Verb conjugation tables for more than 1,600 French verbs in all the simple and compound tenses and moods.
In English, we say that the vowels are “a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.” The last couple of words hint at one of the keys to understanding pronunciation: a vowel is not so much a letter as the sound represented by a letter or combination of letters.
