You went to language school, you lived in Canada for a while, you tried to speak English only, and you are still not quite content with your English? Please read in this Culture Shock post how to sound like a real Canadian. There is no problem without a solution, eh?
Eh is a useful word that is the basis of all Canadian communications and will make you sound totally Canadian. It is used at the end of the sentence in order to give your opinion and receive agreement from the person you talk to, like “I hate rain, eh!” It can also be a statement of an unchangeable fact where agreement of the other person is not necessary: “It’s always raining in Vancouver, eh!” You can make your sentence sound like a command: “You come to my place tonight, eh!” You can use the little word at the end of your phrase as a sign for your wish to initiate further conversation. It can be used for anything like “right? Isn’t it?”
In case you started speaking your sentence already but in process decided that you actually wanted to ask a question, you can turn your whole sentence into a question by adding eh. Easy! “The weather is nice today, eh?” Of course you can add eh to a normal question “What does it mean, eh?” The same way you can insert it in any of your phrases like “Thanks, eh! / Sorry, eh!”
But you also can use EH on its own; here are some examples:
Eh! = OK
Eh? = sorry, what did you say?
Eh? = what do you think?
EEH!! = hellooo!
Eeeh! = oh yes, I understand
Eeehhh!! = wow!
Eh! = sure!
Eeh? = not sure…
Try it out and let us know how it works, eh!
Cheers,
Xenia
We are really impressed by your great input, such as the report about the last Canucks game that Florian sent to us (thanks, Florian!). It is a pleasure for us to be part of your experience in Canada and we are glad that you also want to share it with the rest of the world!
INTERNeX Canada 