ông bà

Level ≈B2 (approx.) noun Top 5,000 most common

Hanoi [ʔəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɓaː˨˩]Huế [ʔəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɓaː˦˩]Saigon [ʔəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɓaː˨˩] browser voice

Syllables · tones

ônglevelngang bàfallinghuyền

Each syllable carries one of six tones; the mark on the vowel tells you which. How the six tones sound →

ông bà means grandparents; ancestor.

Meanings of ông bà in English

Noun

grandparents
colloquial, figurative, literary ancestor
ladies and gentlemen

Words with ông bà

ông bà anh chị em

Example sentences with ông bà

Tôi chỉ nói tiếng Pháp với ông bà của tôi. I only speak French to my grandparents.
Năm sau tôi sẽ sống ở Úc cùng với ông bà tôi. I'll be living in Australia with my grandparents next year.
Anh ấy từng làm việc tại nông trại do ông bà anh ấy sở hữu. He used to work at the farm owned by his grandparents.

Bilingual example sentences from Tatoeba (tatoeba.org, CC BY 2.0 FR).

Historical script (chữ Nôm / Hán)

Before the Latin alphabet (chữ Quốc ngữ) became standard, ông bà could be written as 翁婆. Today Vietnamese is written only in the Latin alphabet.

Etymology

ông + bà; literally "grandfathers and grandmothers".

Frequently asked questions

What does ông bà mean in English?

ông bà (noun) means "grandparents; ancestor".

How do you pronounce ông bà?

IPA: Hanoi [ʔəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɓaː˨˩]; Saigon [ʔəwŋ͡m˧˧ ʔɓaː˨˩]. Tones: ông — level tone (ngang), bà — falling tone (huyền).

Meanings, pronunciation and etymology from English Wiktionary (wiktionary.org, via kaikki.org; CC BY-SA 4.0), reviewed and edited; example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). IPA shown for three accents: Hanoi (Northern), Huế (Central) and Saigon (Southern). The Listen button uses your browser's Vietnamese voice, for reference only. Levels are approximate, estimated from word frequency. Spotted a mistake? Let NgonNgu know.