I told you so

English

Alternative forms

• told you so, told you, I told you, What did I tell you

Phrase

I told you so

1. Used to remind someone that they were already warned by the speaker/writer that a certain event would happen.
   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     […] Of this he took a taste, and straightening up, looked into my eyes with an expression of elation—as much as to say "I told you so!"

   • 2023 April 1, Jonathan Weisman, “Trump and Fox News, Twin Titans of Politics, Hit With Back-to-Back Rebukes”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     For the left, the seismic week delivered an “I told you so” years in the making.

Usage notes

This phrase is often said as "I hate to say I told you so", as a form of paralipsis.

Translations

told you so!

• Arabic: قُلْتُ لَكَ ذٰلِكَ m (qultu laka ḏālika), قُلْتُ لَكِ ذٰلِكَ f (qultu laki ḏālika)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 我說什麼來著 / 我说什么来著 (zh) (wǒ shuō shénme láizhe), 我说什么来着 (zh) (wǒ shuō shénme láizhe)

• Danish: hvad sagde jeg
• Dutch: da's wat ik u gezegd heb he!, wat heb ik je gezegd?
• Finnish: mitä minä sanoin, minähän sanoin
• French: je te l’avais bien dit
• German: ich hab's gesagt
• Hungarian: nem megmondtam?
• Indonesian: apa kataku, nah (id)
• Italian: te l'avevo detto io
• Japanese: 言わんこっちゃない (iwan kotchanai), (male) 言っただろ (itta daro), (female) 言ったでしょ (itta desho)
• Kankanaey: kanak dedan en sik-a
• Low German:

  German Low German: ik heff't seggt, wat heff ik di seggt?

• Ojibwe: gigii-wiindamoon
• Polish: a nie mówiłem?
• Portuguese: eu te avisei, eu avisei
• Russian: я же тебе́ говори́л m (ja že tebé govoríl) (informal, said by male), я же тебе́ говори́ла f (ja že tebé govoríla) (informal, said by female)
• Spanish: ya te lo dije
• Swedish: vad var det jag sa
• Tagalog: sabi ko sa 'yo eh
• Turkish: ben demiştim, ha (tr)
• Vietnamese: tôi đã nói như thế rồi mà, thấy chưa? (literally “(do you) see yet?”)