Russian · Exclamations
Да ладно!
da ladno
dah LAHD-nah · /da ˈladnə/
No way! / Really?! / You're kidding!
1/5 Grandma-safe
mild, playful; fine on daytime TV
Literally
"Yes, okay / come on"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
A tiny phrase doing huge work. Flat, it means "fine, okay." With rising disbelief it's "no way, really?!" And "da ladno tebe" means "oh come on / cut it out." Tone is everything. Completely safe; pure spoken-Russian glue.
Heard in the wild
Их уволили всех? Да ладно!
They fired all of them? No way!
Where it lands
Russia (universal)
Quick answers
- What does "Да ладно!" mean?
- In Russian, "Да ладно!" means "No way! / Really?! / You're kidding!". Literally it's "Yes, okay / come on". A tiny phrase doing huge work. Flat, it means "fine, okay." With rising disbelief it's "no way, really?!" And "da ladno tebe" means "oh come on / cut it out." Tone is everything. Completely safe; pure spoken-Russian glue.
- Is "Да ладно!" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
- How do you pronounce "Да ладно!"?
- Say it "dah LAHD-nah" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: da ˈladnə.
Related in Russian
Блин! blin BLEEN Damn! / Darn! / Shoot! Чёрт! chyort CHORT Damn! / Hell! Ё-моё! yo-moyo YO mah-YO Oh boy! / Geez! / Good grief! Ёлки-палки! yolki-palki YOL-kee PAHL-kee Good grief! / For heaven's sake! Офигеть! ofiget' ah-fee-GYET Wow! / Holy cow! / No way! Ни фига! ni figa nee fee-GAH No way! / Nothing at all! / Like hell!
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "No way".
- French Oh la vache ! Holy cow! / Wow! / Whoa!
- German Quatsch! Nonsense! / Rubbish! / No way!
- Greek έλα ρε Come on! / No way! / You're kidding — disbelief, protest, or delight depending on tone.
- Italian Dai! Come on! / Come off it! / Please!
- Japanese マジ Seriously / for real / no joke
- Korean 헐 Whoa / no way / I can't even — the all-purpose stunned noise.
- Polish no co ty! No way! / Come on! / You can't be serious.
- Portuguese Porra nenhuma! Bullshit! / Like hell! / Not a damn thing
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.