How do I say 'oh my god / OMG'?

Chinese exclamations of shock run a wide gamut from grandmother-safe to bar-fight language:

• 天哪 / 我的天 — the clean, universal “oh my god.” Safe everywhere. 天哪 leans slightly more toward “good heavens”; 我的天 is “my god.” Both are polite and natural.
• 不会吧 — “no way / you’re kidding.” Disbelief rather than shock. Already covered in the no-way entry.
• 我去 — the casual “whoa.” Originally a minced oath (avoiding 我操), now a standard casual exclamation. Safe among friends, not for formal settings.
• 卧槽 — the nuclear option. Extremely common in casual male speech, but genuinely crude. Understanding it is essential for real-life listening comprehension; using it requires careful judgment of context.

The key insight: Chinese exclamations are far more varied by register than English ones. Where English “oh my god” works from church to bar, Chinese splits into at least four distinct register levels. Choosing wrong can make you sound either prissy or crude.

The online variant is 我天 (wǒ tiān) — the shortened, more casual internet form of 我的天. Also: 老天 (lǎo tiān) = “old heavens,” slightly old-fashioned but still used.