The characters in the title are, FWIK, all exclamatory sentence-final particles, though I'm not too sure about ei. So I was wondering what the difference was between the three. Is there a difference in the first place? And if so, what is it?
2 Answers
哦 (Ò), I see!
哦 (O), is that really so?
喔 (Ō), I see!
诶 (唉, Āi), good heavens!
啊 (Á), you are kidding me, right?
啊 (Ǎ), is that really so?
啊 (À), OK.
In Mainland Simplified Chinese.
啊:Oh
This is the most frequently used word.You can say it exactly the pronunciation of the word. and other three words can be used in writing.It's weird in speaking.
哦:Oh well,I see
(Some people will think you don't have interest in what he just said if you response a "哦" with nothing,incoming 哦 will piss him off soon)。
喔:1:Oh,2: a cock's crow(literally chicken)
Often use it to express accent. e.g. 好,accent edition:好喔。
诶
You can see it more in old novels。can be replaced by 哎.