Meanings
I tell you1
I tell you2
alternative I tell you ah · alternative tell you ah
- SingaporeSinglishUsed to draw attention to something one has to say.
Today weather damn hot I tell you.
1 more example
Luckily for us your son earns a good living. I tell you. I don’t know what we did when Jack was in school.
1989, Eleanor Wong, Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities, page 1, lines 18–20
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseSynonym of I can tell you.
Origin
- Hokkien我共汝講 /我共汝讲“let me tell you something; listen up”
- EnglishI tell you
From Etymology 1, or a calque of Hokkien 我共汝講 /我共汝讲 (oá kā lí kóng, “let me tell you something; listen up”).
More words from Hokkien
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
I tell you. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/I%20tell%20you
“I tell you.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/I%20tell%20you. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “I tell you,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/I%20tell%20you.
Source: I tell you on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.