What Does “Một Hai Ba” Mean in Vietnamese?

Một Hai Ba is Vietnamese for One Two Three. It is approximately pronounced like “Mut” (down-tone) “Hi” (like the greeting) “Ba” (like a sheep).

If you are drinking in Vietnam, you may have heard the expression Một, hai, ba, dô! which means “cheers!” in Vietnamese, or more literally “one, two, three, GO!” — the dô is pronounced like yo in Southern Vietnam and like zoe in Northern Vietnam.

Một Hai Ba is also the name of a famous Asian-fusion restaurant in Dallas Texas – MotHaiBaDallas.com . Many of the items on the menu are not traditionally Vietnamese, so, for a more authentic experience, we recommend the Vermicielli noodles or the Phở dishes. Phở is a slow-cooked delicacy in Vietnam (learn more here)

Pronunciation of “Một Hai Ba”

Vietnamese is a tonal language with 6 different pitch-dynamics that change the meaning of a word (even if the atonal pronunciation is the same). Therefore, to properly pronounce “Một Hai Ba” (especially the Một) requires some study of the musicality of Vietnamese tones (listen to the 6 tones here ).

Nonetheless, the best Anglicized approximation of “Một Hai Ba” is pronounced like “Mut” (with an angry-down-pitch), “Hi” (as in Hello) “Ba” (like a sheep).

Both hai and ba have a flat natural tone, just like any normal English word spoken without emphasis. But the lower-dot in một means that the ộ must be spoken with a sharp, down-pitch, like an angry Japanese accent. That is just one of the 6 Vietnamese tones.

Pronunciation of Numbers in Vietnamese [with Audio]

Vietnamese uses regular arabic numerals, as inherited from the French colonial period.

^{· 1 – một – mut, with a down-tone}

^{· 2 – hai – like Hi!}

^{· 3 – ba – like a sheep}

^{· 4 – bốn – like “James Bond?” with an upward pitch}

^{· 5 – năm – like num}

^{· 6 – sáu – like sao as in Sao? Paulo, with an upward pitch}

^{· 7 – bảy – like Bye with a slight downward then upward pitch}

^{· 8 – tám – like tam with an upward pitch}

^{· 9 – chín – like chin with an upward pitch}

^{· 10 – mười – like moi with a downward pitch}

To learn more about Vietnamese numbers and their pronunciation, see our article on Vietnamese Numbers: How to Count from 1 to 1 Billion