During nearly any night out on the town, you’ll hear locals cheer their glasses at bars and restaurants, across Vietnam. The phrase saying cheers in Vietnamese is very easy to pronounce and remember.

The expression for cheers in Vietnam is “một hai ba, dô!” The first phrase, “một hai ba” means “one, two, three” in Vietnamese. “Dô” (sounds like “yo”) would be when you clink your glasses together with your group and translate more to “cheers”.

Một hai ba, dô! (sounds like mo hi ba yo)

Cheers in Ho Chi Minh City! Photo by: Danny Baza Blas

It’s pronounced: mo hi ba yo/moh hi bah yo; sometimes the yo is dragged out “yooo” or “yooooooooo”.

Sometimes for short, you might just say “dô!” for “cheers!”, instead of 1, 2, 3 (một hai ba) every time to start. This is quicker and is sometimes found when drinking beers at dinner and each person takes a sip at the same time. You ask for someone to drink when you do with a simple yo!

It’s good manners to look at the person(s) you are toasting with. Unless stated it’s typically just a sip of your beer or drink.

You might say “Trăm phần trăm, meaning drink “one hundred percent”, 100%; (also: “một trăm phần trăm”)
Or drink “năm mươi năm mươi”, meaning “fifty fifty” or drink half 50 50.