10 POPULAR WAYS TO SAY CHEERS IN VIETNAMESE

When drinking alcohol or being at parties, Vietnamese people often say cheers which makes the air more joyful and vibrant. What are those sayings? Let’s find out 10 ways to say Cheers in Vietnamese with Jellyfish, and you will be impressive/cool in the eyes of native speakers.

I. 10 popular ways to say cheers in Vietnam

“Drinking culture” in Vietnam is very special, everyone often uses some words or sayings as the opening of the party. Here are 10 popular ways to say cheers in Vietnam. 

1. Dzô!

In other countries, typically the UK or the US, they often use “Cheers!” to toast. In Vietnam, there is a prominent word and generally used in every party, it is “Dzô”. It sounds like “Yo” in English, which is very easy to use with foreigners

2. Một, hai, ba, dô! (1, 2, 3, Dzô!)

How do you say Cheers in Vietnamese? “Một, hai, ba, dô!” is a way to say cheers when drinking beer, it expresses happiness, pleasant and generally used at crowded parties.

Alternatively, for this saying, Vietnamese people also modify some other longer sentences, for example: 

Một, hai, ba, dô!

Hai, ba, dô!

Hai, ba, uống!

In this way, it helps to make the party more exciting. You just lift up your glass and shout along with everyone.

How do you say Cheers in Vietnamese - Dzô

3. Trăm phần trăm (A hundred percent) – Cheers in Vietnamese

“Trăm phần trăm” is a must – know Vietnamese slang. When someone cheers you up and they say “Trăm phần trăm nhé!” or “Một trăm phần trăm!”, it means you must drink all the alcohol you have in your glass. If you don’t want to drink a hundred percent, try to bargain with your partner by “’Năm mươi phần trăm”, “Hai mươi phần trăm”,…..

4. 50 50 (Fifty percent)

You can use “Năm mươi phần trăm” or “Năm mươi năm mươi” to bargain if you cannot drink all the alcohol in the glass.

Additionally, you can also negotiate a different amount less than “Một trăm phần trăm”. This is also a way of toasting in Vietnam, when people just want to put glasses together and do not drink it all. 

5. Cạn ly, cạn chén! (Bottoms up!)

With the similar meaning to “Trăm phần trăm”, the saying “Cạn chén” or “Cạn ly” also means to drink all the beer in your glass. In some areas in Vietnam, people often use these phrases in order to replace “Trăm phần trăm”. 

The implication of this saying is to wish you could drink all the alcohol in the glass, but if you cannot, you do not need to drink it all but you should drink some!

trăm phần trăm - Cheers in Vietnamese

6. Không say không về (Not leaving until drunk)

This is considered as a joke in a party, when everyone wants to have a long drinking session.

It means that you will be allowed to leave the party when you are drunk. But this is a joke and you don’t have to get drunk to go home, you just need to give your best to the fun of the party. 

7. Cụng ly ! (Put Glasses together)

“Cụng ly” or “Cụng chén” is used in each region of Vietnam. If Northern people use “Cụng ly”, Southern people use “Cụng chén”. The implication of this phrase is to raise glasses to touch each other instead of saying cheers. 

8. Chúc sức khỏe! (To Your Health!)

The saying “Chúc sức khỏe!” is generally used to cheer people who are older than you or your partners. Moreover, it is also used during the holidays to wish each other good health. In this situation, it is not recommended to use the above cheers. 

9. Nâng ly (Lift Up Your Glass)

“Nâng ly” is also a way to toast each other. This saying is softer than other ways of toasting. Furthermore, it is used regularly in luxurious parties or holidays

10. Saying cheers by a poem – How do you say Cheers in Vietnamese

Different from the above toasting methods, in some regions in Vietnam, they will modify the toasting according to some rhyming verses for everyone to wish each other. Some commonly used verses are:

  • Main speaker: Vực nào vực sâu thăm thẳm
  • Everyone: Vực nào sâu bằng cái ly này
  • Main speaker: Hò zô ta nào, kéo cái ly này lên 
  • Everyone: 1,2,3 zô….2,3 zô …..2,3 uống.

This way of cheering will be quite difficult for foreigners. Therefore, if you are an outsider coming to Vietnam, you just need to lift up your glass, talk with everyone at the party and do not need to say cheers with everyone. 

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II. Is this a cultural feature of Vietnamese people?

Surely, when you come to Vietnam, you will feel very strange that there are many saloons in most provinces and cities in this country. Because of that, there has been a controversy between whether to recognize “Nhậu” as a cultural feature of Vietnam or not.

“Nhậu” is very common in Vietnam, it is loved by most Vietnamese people. Because after a day of stressful working and studying, it is wonderful to gather friends together to relieve stress and chat with each other.

In such parties, Vietnamese people tend to say cheers and toast to each other such as  “Một, hai, ba, dzô!” to make the parties more interesting. 

Therefore, whether it is considered as a cultural feature or not depends on each individual’s point of view, but we cannot deny that participating in a Vietnamese drinking party is very fun.

In addition, when participating in a Vietnamese drinking party, you should also learn how to toast in Vietnam because it will make a huge impression on everyone around you.

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