7 Greek Exclamations You'll Hear Every Day: Ela, Re, Po Po and More

Greek runs on a family of short, loud, emotional words that Greeks lean on constantly. Most of them are never taught in a vocabulary list, because they don’t translate cleanly. You only pick them up by hearing them in context, again and again, until you start reaching for them yourself.

The most famous of them is όπα, famous enough that it has its own article. This one covers the other seven you’ll hear most: έλα, ρε, πω πω, άντε, σιγά, μπράβο, and ωχ.

έλα (ela): come on, no way, and how Greeks answer the phone

έλα (ela) literally means “come”, the command form of the verb έρχομαι. You’ll hear it used that way (“έλα εδώ”, come here), but its life as an exclamation is much bigger than that.

Pick up the phone to a Greek friend and the first word you hear will often be “έλα”, not “hello”. It works as “go ahead, I’m listening”. Say something surprising and you’ll get “έλα!” with wide eyes, meaning “no way, you’re kidding”. Stretch it out and it becomes a frustrated “come ooon”. Football crowds shout it at the referee. Parents shout it at slow children. It’s everywhere.

ρε (re): the most untranslatable word on this list

ρε (re) has no English equivalent, and Greeks themselves struggle to explain it. It’s a particle you attach to get someone’s attention or to colour what you’re saying with familiarity. Closest English cousins are “mate”, “man”, or a sharp “oi”, but none quite fits. It’s a very old word: it descends from μωρέ, the vocative of Ancient Greek μωρός.

“Τι κάνεις ρε;” between friends is a warm “how’s it going, mate?” The same word fired at a stranger who just cut the queue is aggressive. The tone does all the work. Among close friends ρε is a sign of affection and ease, but with someone you don’t know, it’s rude. A gentler, older version is βρε (vre), which softens the edge and is what you’ll often hear from older Greeks. If you’re not sure of the relationship, leave ρε out until you’ve heard the other person use it with you first.

πω πω (po po): oh dear, oh no, and occasionally “wow”

πω πω (po po), often stretched to “πω πω πω”, is a reaction to something striking, and not necessarily in a good way. A good test Greeks themselves use: you’d say “πω πω” on hearing that someone’s been taken ill or failed their exam again. It expresses dismay, worry, or just being overwhelmed. Stuck in traffic that won’t move, a bill higher than you expected, brutal heat on a bus with no air-conditioning… “πω πω πω”, shaking the head.

It can tip the other way into admiration, “πω πω, τι ωραία θέα!” (wow, what a view), but that usually needs a rising, marvelling tone, and even then it often means something has overwhelmed you rather than simply pleased you. Hear a flat or falling “πω πω” and you can assume something’s gone wrong.

άντε (ade): get a move on

άντε (ante, pronounced roughly AHN-de) pushes things forward. The core meaning is “come on”, “hurry up”, “let’s go”. Your bus is about to leave and your friend is still tying a shoelace: “άντε!” It’s the verbal equivalent of a hand on the back, gently or not so gently moving you along.

It has a couple of side jobs. “Άντε γεια” is a casual “right, bye then”, a way to wrap up a goodbye. And said flatly in response to a boast, “άντε ρε” turns into a dismissive “yeah, right, sure you did”. Useful to recognise, easy to misread if you only know the “hurry up” sense.

σιγά (siga): “big deal” (and it’s sarcastic)

σιγά (siga) literally means “slowly” or “quietly”. You’ll see “σιγά” on road signs telling drivers to slow down.

As a reaction word, though, it’s sarcastic. You show a friend the designer sunglasses you got for “only” €80 and they say “σιγά” — meaning “big deal”, “that’s nothing to brag about”, “yeah, right”. Someone threatens consequences that everyone knows won’t happen: “σιγά τα αίματα”, roughly “calm down, it’s not that serious”. It’s a deflating word, and it’s one of the clearest signals that a Greek speaker is unimpressed. Catch it and you’ll understand a lot of conversations you’d otherwise read as positive.

μπράβο (mpravo): well done, sometimes

μπράβο (mpravo) is an easy and fun one. It’s pronounced “bravo” and means exactly what you’d guess: well done, good job, congratulations. (The μπ spelling is just how Greek writes the “b” sound.) A child finishes their homework, a colleague lands a deal, a singer hits the note: μπράβο.

The catch is sarcasm, which Greek deploys liberally. A flat, slow “μπράβο” after someone does something foolish means the opposite of praise. As with the rest of this list, the word stays fixed and the tone decides the meaning.

ωχ (och): oh no

ωχ (och) is the small sound of things going wrong. Pronounced with the soft ch of the Scottish “loch”, it’s the Greek “oh no”, “ouch”, “ugh”. You realise you’ve left your phone in the taxi: “ωχ”. You remember an appointment you’ve missed: “ωχ, όχι”.

Tone is everything

You’ll have noticed the pattern. πω πω usually means dismay but can tip into awe. μπράβο and σιγά can be sincere or cutting. ρε can be warm or hostile. The meaning of these words isn’t fixed the way “table” or “Tuesday” is. The speaker’s voice, face, and timing decide it, and όπα works exactly the same way.

This is exactly why reading a list like this one only gets you halfway. You can learn that σιγά is sarcastic, but recognising the dry, deflating tone in a real sentence, and producing it yourself without sounding like you’re reciting, is a separate skill.

Practise using them in real conversation

The way to close that gap is to hear these words in context and try them yourself, out loud, with feedback on whether you got the tone right. That’s the part a vocabulary app can’t give you.

The conversation exercises on Speak Greek put you in the situations these words actually live in, like a friend sharing surprising news, a vendor quoting a steep price, a moment to react with the right exclamation, and give you feedback on what you say. It’s worth doing a few rounds before you travel, because the first time someone fires “έλα ρε!” at you across a table, you want it to feel familiar rather than baffling.

If you’re building from the ground up, this pairs naturally with knowing your Greek greetings and the yes and no gestures that confuse every visitor. And if your first stop is a café, the coffee-ordering vocabulary is where you’ll hear half these words in the wild.

Test yourself

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FAQ

Is it rude to say ρε (re) in Greek?

It depends entirely on the relationship and tone. Among friends ρε is warm and familiar. Directed at a stranger, or said sharply, it’s rude; dictionaries flag that use as deliberately offensive. If you’re unsure, wait until a Greek speaker uses it with you before using it back.

How do Greeks answer the phone?

Often with “έλα” (ela), literally “come”, used here to mean “hello / go ahead”. You’ll also hear “ναι” (yes) or ”παρακαλώ” (please). “Έλα” is the casual, friendly default between people who know each other.

What does po po po mean in Greek?

πω πω (po po) is a reaction to something striking: usually dismay, worry, or being overwhelmed, like “oh dear” or “I can’t cope”. With a rising, admiring tone it can flip to “wow”. The more πω’s, the stronger the feeling.

What does ela mean in Greek?

Literally “come!”, the imperative of έρχομαι. As an exclamation it stretches much further: “come on”, “you’re kidding”, a phone greeting, or an exasperated “come ooon”, depending on tone.

What’s the difference between άντε and έλα?

Both can mean “come on”, but άντε pushes someone to act (hurry up, get going) while έλα pulls: come here, go ahead, tell me. In practice you’ll hear them together: “άντε, έλα!” (come ON, let’s go).

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References

• έλα — Wiktionary. Imperative of έρχομαι (“come!”); interjection senses “you don’t say; come on” and the informal telephone greeting.
• ρε — Wiktionary. Informal address (“hey, dude”), the deliberately offensive use towards strangers, the surprise sense, and the derivation from Ancient Greek μωρέ (vocative of μωρός), with βρε as a doublet.
• σιγά — Wiktionary. “Slowly”, “quietly”, and the ironic sense (“as if”) used in response to threats or something highly unlikely.
• άντε — Wiktionary. “Go!”, “go on”, “come on” (promptness, surprise, or irony), with the proposed derivation from Ancient Greek ἄγετε.