Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To be pregnant: The state of a woman or female animal carrying a developing embryo or fetus within her body.
   • To be expecting (a child): A common, slightly more euphemistic way to say someone is pregnant.
   • To be with child: A traditional or literary way to express pregnancy.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Cô ấy có thai. (She is pregnant.)
  • Chị tôi có thai lần đầu. (My sister is pregnant for the first time.)
  • Sau khi kết hôn, họ mong muốn có thai sớm. (After getting married, they wish to get pregnant soon.)

Advanced Usage

• "có thai ngoài ý muốn": to have an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy.
  • Việc giáo dục sức khỏe sinh sản giúp giảm tỷ lệ có thai ngoài ý muốn ở thanh thiếu niên. (Sexual health education helps reduce the rate of unplanned pregnancy among adolescents.)
• "có thai hộ": to be a surrogate mother (to carry a pregnancy for someone else).
  • Ở một số quốc gia, có thai hộ được pháp luật cho phép và quy định chặt chẽ. (In some countries, surrogacy is legally permitted and strictly regulated.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mang thai (v): to be pregnant, to carry a pregnancy. This is a very common synonym, often used interchangeably with "có thai".
  • Cô ấy mang thai đứa con thứ hai. (She is carrying her second child.)
• Có mang (v): to be pregnant. This is a slightly older or more colloquial synonym.
  • Người ta nói cô ấy có mang. (People say she is with child.)
• Thai nghén (v): to be pregnant. This term often emphasizes the process or state of pregnancy.
  • Thời kỳ thai nghén cần được chăm sóc đặc biệt. (The prenatal period requires special care.)
• Bầu bí (adj, informal): pregnant, in a family way. This is a casual, colloquial term.
  • Chị ấy đang bầu bí nên rất mệt. (She is pregnant so she is very tired.)

Synonyms

• Có em bé: to have a baby on the way (a gentle, common way to announce pregnancy).
• Sắp làm mẹ: to be about to become a mother.
• Trong tình trạng thai sản: in a state of pregnancy/maternity (formal, medical/administrative context).

Related Phrases

• Có tin vui: to have good news (a common indirect and joyful way to announce a pregnancy).
  • Họ hàng rất vui mừng khi biết hai vợ chồng có tin vui. (The relatives were very happy to learn that the couple had good news [were expecting].)
• Lên chức: to be promoted (a humorous way to say someone is going to become a parent).
  • Anh ấy sắp lên chức bố rồi. (He is about to be promoted to dad.)

Related Idioms

• Mang nặng đẻ đau: to carry heavy (pregnancy) and give birth painfully. This idiom describes the hardship and sacrifice of motherhood, starting from pregnancy.
  • Công ơn cha mẹ như trời biển, nhất là công mang nặng đẻ đau của mẹ. (Parental grace is as vast as the sky and sea, especially the grace of carrying and bearing children from the mother.)

1. To be with child, to be in the family way, to be pregnant
   • chị ấy có thai được năm tháng
     she has been with child five months, she is six months gone