# Bear a child? Deliver a child? give birth to a child



## Lisa Barre

Hi native speakers, I know it would sound unnatural to say "My sister bore a child 2 weeks ago" in modern English (as has been discussed in past posts). However, could you kindly advise which of the following sentences sound natural and which don't? Thank you so much.

1. My sister bore a boy last week. (archaic?)
2. A boy was born by my sister last week.
3. My sister delivered a boy last week.
4. My sister gave birth to a boy last week.
5. A boy was given birth by my sister last week.
6. Birth was given to a boy by my sister last week.
7. My sister had a boy last week (if the context is about giving birth).

Many thanks.


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## Wordy McWordface

Only 4 and 7 are acceptable.

3 might be used in the context of obstetrics.

You can forget about the others.
1, as you say, is archaic.
2, 5 and 6 are just wrong.

Amended after OP changed numbering of options.


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## Lisa Barre

Wordy McWordface said:


> Only 3 and 6 are acceptable.
> 
> 2 might be used in the context of obstetrics.
> 
> You can forget about the others.
> 1, as you say, is archaic.
> 4 and 5 are just wrong.


Dear, thank you for your prompt feedback. Can I also ask a followup question?
I'm currently living in the US and have found many native speakers use #4 (as shown below).

a. She gave birth to a healthy boy.
b. Kelly just gave birth to a baby boy.

Would both a. and b. sound bizarre (or simply ungrammatical) to British English speakers (as I found you may be a British English speaker in your profile description)? Thank you so much.


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## Wordy McWordface

Lisa Barre said:


> a. She gave birth to a healthy boy.
> b. Kelly just gave birth to a baby boy.


Both of those statements are absolutely fine.

Note amended numbering in my post #2.

Option 4 is standard English.

I could have sworn there were only 6 options when I first read your post


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## Lisa Barre

Wordy McWordface said:


> Both of those statements are absolutely fine.
> 
> Note amended numbering in my post #2.


Thanks, dear, really!


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## sinukg

I'd like to ask a question here. Please see the sentence "She gave birth to a *healthy* boy." Here could you please tell me whether the sentence is correct without the word 'baby' after the word 'healthy' as "She gave birth to a *healthy baby boy*."?


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## Loob

sinukg said:


> I'd like to ask a question here. Please see the sentence "She gave birth to a *healthy* boy." Here could you please tell me whether the sentence is correct without the word 'baby' after the word 'healthy' as "She gave birth to a *healthy baby boy*."?


You're asking if "She gave birth to a healthy boy." is a correct sentence?  Yes, it is.


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## Enquiring Mind

Of course it is!


> Miss Walters, a doctor’s receptionist, spent weeks in intensive care fighting against pneumonia and kidney failure. In January, she gave birth to a healthy boy, Thomas. (thenorthernecho)


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## zaffy

The other day I heard a native speaker say this: "My mum was 18 when she had me." 

Now, could I say the same thing these ways?

_My mum was 18 when she gave birth to me.
My mum was 18 when she bore me._


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## sound shift

"My mum was 18 when she bore me" is very unlikely. The other one is OK.


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## Loob

The first one's fine.

The second one's grammatical.  But I can't imagine anyone saying it, unless they were pretending - rather unconvincingly - to be a character from several centuries ago_.

Cross-posted and agreeing with ss_


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## zaffy

How about these? Is either fine?

_Anna insisted on having the baby at home.
Anna insisted on giving birth to the baby at home._


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## sound shift

Yes, both of your suggestions in #12 are fine. The first one is the likelier of the two.

("Is either fine?" is not fine, though. "Is either OK?" works.)


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## zaffy

And which wording do you prefer?

_My mum had me when she was 18.
My mum was 18 when she had me._


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## Roxxxannne

It depends on whether you want to emphasize the age of your mom when you were born.  If I wanted to emphasize it, I'd use the second sentence (and Id' change the spelling of 'mum').  Others may differ.


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## zaffy

So I could happily ask my mom either, couldn't I? 

How old were you when you had me? 
How old were you when you gave birth to me?


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## Roxxxannne

_How old were you when you gave birth to me? _sounds too formal for talking to one's mom. I'd use it in a formal piece of writing, like an article in a journal, about someone: "she gave birth to 12 children between 1844 and 1866."


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## zaffy

And does either work in this example? Say a pregnant woman is talking to her doctor. She wants to see him again after the baby is born. 

Could I come see you again when I have my baby? 
Could I come see you again when I give birth to my baby?


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## Tegs

Neither. "Can I make another appointment after my baby is born?" Although, this would be an odd thing to ask. You have the right to request an appointment whenever, and it's not the doctor you discuss this with but the surgery receptionist.


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## Roxxxannne

In fact, the doctor would likely start the conversation and say "I'll want to see you about three weeks after the baby's born. When you're out of the hospital [if that's where the doctor and the pregnant woman think the baby will be born] call my office to make an appointment."


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## zaffy

And could I ask my mum this as well? I guess I could.
"How old were you when I was born?"

Or do you prefer "How old were you when you had me"?


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## Roxxxannne

I'd likely say "How old were you when I was born?" myself, but "How old were you when you had me" is just as good.


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## zaffy

And when asking my dad, the "when you had me" version doesn't make sense, does it?


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## heypresto

But if you know your mother's date of birth, you don't need to ask her how old she was when you were born.


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## heypresto

zaffy said:


> And when asking my dad, the "when you had me" version doesn't make sense, does it?


No.


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## zaffy

And this could be ambiguous without further context, couldn't it? Say a mother of four says it. 

"I'm not going to have more children."

Could it mean that either she doesn't want to own/raise more children or that she doesn't want to give birth to more children, like, e.g.,  she's not strong enough to go through deliveries any more?


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## heypresto

Most likely it would mean that she had simply chosen not to give birth to any more children.

There is a possibility, I suppose, that she has chosen not to adopt/foster any more children, or that she has been advised, on medical grounds, not to give birth to any more children, but these are less likely, and would almost certainly be accompanied by more context of information.


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## Tegs

zaffy said:


> this could be ambiguous without further context, couldn't it?


No, it's very clear.


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## zaffy

heypresto said:


> Most likely it would mean that she had simply chosen not to give birth to any more children.





Tegs said:


> No, it's very clear.


Intersesting. I would have thought it would rather mean she doesn't want to "own" more children, just like a male would say "I don't want to have any more children". Couldn't a male said that?


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## heypresto

I think a male would say 'I don't want any more children.' Men don't 'have' children. And neither parent 'owns' them.


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## zaffy

heypresto said:


> I think a male would say 'I don't want any more children.'* Men don't 'have' children*. And neither parent 'owns' them.


Interesting. Each day I learn something new. 

Can't I, as a male, say "I have three children"? I believe I can. 

So does this not sound likely? "I have three children and, to be honest, I don't want to have any more."


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## Hermione Golightly

You have some unfamiliar notions it seems zaffy. People, men and women, can say they don't want any more children. There are several reasons why they prefer not to have or parent any more.


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## heypresto

zaffy said:


> Can't I, as a male, say "I have three children"? I believe I can.


Of course you can. This does mean 'own' in the sense we are talking about.


zaffy said:


> So does this not sound likely? "I have three children and, to be honest, I don't want to have any more."


No. Well, the first part is fine, but I think the second part is more likely to be '. . . I don't want any more.'

We are talking about two different meanings of 'have' here. One is to own, and the other is 'to give birth to.'


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## zaffy

heypresto said:


> No. Well, the first part is fine, but I think the second part is more likely to be '. . . I don't want any more.'



Say I'm asking various teenagers, both males and females, about how many children they would want in the future.

"How many children would you like to have in the future?"

1. Does this question not sound idiomatic with "have"?
2. Would females understand I was asking about how many children they would like to give birth to?
3. Would males raise their eyebrows as to why I was asking them about giving births?


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## Tegs

It is idiomatic, but girls would understand that "have" as "give birth to" and boys would understand it as "be a parent of". 

You used the verb "own" in #29. We don't use that verb at all with children, regardless of how the children came to be in the family. We use "own" with animals, not people.


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## zaffy

Tegs said:


> It is idiomatic, but girls would understand that "have" as "give birth to" and boys would understand it as "be a parent of".


So how should I word this question for girls so that they would understand I am asking about "being a parent of", not "giving birth"?


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## sdgraham

zaffy said:


> So how should I word this question for girls so that they would understand I am asking about "being a parent of", not "giving birth"?


Pleas explain how a woman can be a "parent of" without "giving birth to"


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## zaffy

sdgraham said:


> Pleas explain how a woman can be a "parent of" without "giving birth to"


Hmm, It's confusing, to be honest. So you're saying this question does mean the same thing for both males and females, that is, all of them would understand as "being a parent of". I was told earlier famales and males would understand it differently.


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## Roxxxannne

sdgraham said:


> Pleas explain how a woman can be a "parent of" without "giving birth to"


 back at you.
A man can be someone's parent without giving birth, so why can't a woman who adopts a child?

Newly-married couples say "we don't want to have kids right away" or "we want to have two kids" when clearly only one of them is going to give birth each time, even if they are two women who each can bear children.


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## Tegs

zaffy said:


> "How many children would you like to have in the future?"





zaffy said:


> how should I word this question for girls so that they would understand I am asking about "being a parent of", not "giving birth"?



You'd have to be bizarrely specific and therefore unidiomatic. e.g.

How many children would you like to take parental responsibility for as an adult, regardless of their biological relationship to you? 

I can't think of any scenario where you'd ask a young girl this about her future interest in parenting.


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## sdgraham

Roxxxannne said:


> A man can be someone's parent without giving birth, so why can't a woman who adopts a child?


Normally, at least in the American news business, we assume that "parent" refers to a biological parent. If the situation is more complex, we refer to "biological parents" vs "adoptive parents."


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## Roxxxannne

I don't see what that has to do with a woman who adopts a child being the child's parent in normal, ordinary, non-complex life.  Suppose a newspaper story about Rita Smith, who just broke the high-school record for the 100-yard dash, mentions that her mother is a French teacher at the high school.  It's perfectly okay to refer to the French teacher as "Rita's mother" even if everyone in town knows she adopted Rita when Rita was a baby.  Isn't it?


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