# "We are pregnant"...Is it used in your country?



## 6 pies

I just saw a post on the English-Spanish page about the word pregnant and it reminded me of a relatively new phenomena (I think…someone correct me if I’m wrong) in which people in the US will say, “we are pregnant” instead of “I’m pregnant” or “my wife is pregnant”.  I suppose it is to be more inclusive to the husband.  In your country do you hear people saying “we’re pregnant” or is it exclusively “I’m pregnant” or “my wife is pregnant”?  If someone said, “we’re pregnant” what would people in your country think?  Would it be strange? Normal?

In my experience, I’ve heard it a couple of times.  At first it sounded a little weird to me because the husband obviously not pregnant, but I guess it’s the “new” way to say it.


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## Drechuin

I've never heard it in France.

The women can _be pregnant_, but the couple (or the husband) _is waiting for a child.

_I would find it strange, but not very strange and I would understand anyway.


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## Outsider

I can picture a couple saying "We are pregnant" as a joke, but only as a joke, and I have never heard it.


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## lamartus

You can hear "We are pregnant" in Spain. In fact, the first time I visited the midwife in my pregnancy, I went with my husband, and she told us: You (both) are here because you (both) are pregnant, aren't you? (in Spanish, of course ).

Cheers.

(Sorry if I made mistakes )


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## PABLO DE SOTO

Yeah, you can hear that in Spain.
I think it's a silly fashion but I am afraid that more and more people use that expression and it's going to remain with us.


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## Outsider

I'm curious: do you say _embarazadas_ or _embarazados_?


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## PABLO DE SOTO

Outsider said:


> I'm curious: do you say _embarazadas_ or _embarazados_?


 
Embarazados.


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## Bilma

That is also used in Mexico but it is a something new.


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## tepatria

I've actually heard young men say *I'm pregnant*, usually followed by a glare from the wife and quickly changed to *We're pregnant*. The male may not have to carry the child, but he certainly shares the burden of the pregnancy. If only that were true of labour and delivery as well!


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## alexacohen

I never heard it. Fortunetely. 
As for sharing the burden of pregnancy, I would have killed the father of my kids if he dared as much as insinuate it.
He wasn't the one who spent seven months in a hospital bed monitored by all kinds of horrid devices.
What an stupid phrase.


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## Kajjo

No, I never heard that. Of course, there might be the occasional joke about this situation, but otherwise only women are pregnant and that's it. 

Personally, I would regard such a phrase -- if meant seriously for reasons of political correctness or ill-conceived togetherness -- as nonsense.

Kajjo


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## mirx

I honestly haven't heard it coming from actual poeple in the streets or family or friends, but is a trend in Mexican soap operas, so it doesn't sound that weird anymore.

But I do think that that is a stupid way to say things, being pregnant is a state that only a woman can go through. "We are goint to have a child" or "we are expecting a baby"; both phrases here include the husband and the wife, so why use words that would be unnatural (for men)?

Women get pregnant, men don't.


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## Etcetera

Drechuin said:


> I've never heard it in France.
> 
> The women can _be pregnant_, but the couple (or the husband) _is waiting for a child.
> 
> _I would find it strange, but not very strange and I would understand anyway.


Same in Russia - and in fact, it seems to me that the phrase "We're expecting a child" is more common than "My wife is pregnant". 

I've never heard "We're pregnant", neither in Russian nor in any other language I know. And it does sound odd!


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## Drechuin

Etcetera said:


> I've never heard "We're pregnant", neither in Russian nor in any other language I know. And it does sound odd!



In french, it's even offer than in english since the adjective should be masculine, but _enceinte_ (pregnant) doesn't have a masculine form.


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## Etcetera

Drechuin said:


> In french, it's even offer than in english since the adjective should be masculine, but _enceinte_ (pregnant) doesn't have a masculine form.


The Russian adjective _can _be masculine, theoretically. But none of my dictionaries list it in its masculine form.


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## elizabeth_b

This expression is really illogical.  I think something is really going wrong with humanity.  We're just inventing nonsenses.  I will file this "we're pregnant" thing along with "metrosexual", "ubersexual", "globalifobics" and whatever strange terms that I can find in the news this week.


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## shoobydoowap

Funny you'd mention it. There's a commercial on TV now about some cell phone company that has no dropped calls. It shows a woman calling her husband and she yells "We're pregnant!" But then the phone call drops and she thinks she's being ignored. But anyway, that's at least one time I've heard the phrase "we're pregnant."


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## karuna

elizabeth_b said:


> This expression is really illogical.  I think something is really going wrong with humanity.  We're just inventing nonsenses.  I will file this "we're pregnant" thing along with "metrosexual", "ubersexual", "globalifobics" and whatever strange terms that I can find in the news this week.



From a language point of view it is normal. The word "pregnant" may be just acquiring a new meaning as it already has many different meanings in English. _A pregnant silence ensued.

_The Latvian language doesn't have an adjective _pregnant. _At least not in the standard language when refering to humans. The closest you can say is: _viņai ir iestājusies grūtniecība — _to her the pregnancy has set it. But that is a very medical way of saying. _Mums būs bērniņš – _we'll have a baby, _Mēs gaidām bērniņu – _we are waiting for a baby – these are more common ways to express the same idea.


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## tilt

Drechuin said:


> In french, it's even offer than in english since the adjective should be masculine, but _enceinte_ (pregnant) doesn't have a masculine form.


_
Enceint _does exist, in fact, but with no reference to pregnancy. It's the past participle of the verb _enceindre_ (to encircle), which can be used as an adjective: _le village est enceint d'un fossé_.

In my opinion, saying _we're pregnant_ is stupid because totally meaningless. Both parents do wait for the baby, but the woman only is pregnant.
Why not saying _we're having our period_, then?


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## Arrius

I have often heard in English "we are pregnant", which can even include the (male) doctor who says it to the mum-to-be, the idea being a friendly, empathetic association, whether sincere or feigned, with the future mother. Similarly, "now we are three (years old)", may be said by a seventy-year-old grandfather to his grandchild or printed on a birthday card sent by him on this occasion.
An extreme example of this slightly patronising usage grimly amused me once in a play by Ronald Harwood, "The Dresser". It occurred when a middle-aged Shakesperian actor-manager , alcoholic, overworked and under constant stress, suddenly dies of cardiac arrest in his dressing-room at the theatre. His devoted and much abused dresser and general factotum quite distraught, examines his master gently and asks sadly and in bewilderment: "_Are we dead then_?"


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## tilt

Arrius said:


> I have often heard in English "we are pregnant", which can even include the (male) doctor who says it to the mum-to-be, the idea being a friendly, empathetic association, whether sincere or feigned, with the future mother. Similarly, "now we are three (years old)", may be said by a seventy-year-old grandfather to his grandchild or printed on a birthday card sent by him on this occasion.
> An extreme example of this slightly patronising usage grimly amused me once in a play by Ronald Harwood, "The Dresser". It occurred when a middle-aged Shakesperian actor-manager , alcoholic, overworked and under constant stress, suddenly dies of cardiac arrest in his dressing-room at the theatre. His devoted and much abused dresser and general factotum quite distraught, examines his master gently and asks sadly and in bewilderment: "_Are we dead then_?"


Oh! In this meaning, of course, it's possible in French too!
People saying _nous _instead of _tu/vous_ is not that common, but happens.


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## DearPrudence

It's strange because if a doctor says "*Nous allons bien aujourd'hui ?*" (_"Are we OK today?"_) I don't have the impression he includes himself. It's just another way of saying "Vous allez bien ? (_Are you OK?_) (Also, some people say "*Il va bien aujourd'hui ?*" (_"Is he going OK today?"_) while talking to you (maybe because they don't know if they should say "tu" or "vous" ...)
A doctor saying "*Nous allons bien aujourd'hui ?*" sounds completely different than saying "*on attend un bébé*" ("_We are expecting a baby"_) for instance.

But I can't imagine a man saying "*Nous sommes enceint(e)s*" (_We are pregnant_), that would be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.


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## EmilyD

I know a few lesbian couples who have borne (and/or adopted) children. Always only one woman was pregnant at a time, and I never heard either woman use that expression...

I imagine there are instances when both women are expecting at the same time...(hopefully not twins!)
_
Nomi_


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## Vagabond

In Greece, it is normally the woman who is pregnant (linguistically too, I mean ). You might hear a happy father-to-be though exclaim with pride "We are pregnant!". It is more of a funny/cute way to show that he is happy expecting a baby; I have never heard it used in a different (or more serious) context.


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## Lugubert

In Sweden, the normal way is _Vi ska ha barn_ 'We're going to have a child'. The dictionary word for 'pregnant', _gravid_, from Latin for 'heavy', is almost never used outside of a clinic or similar setting. Then there's of course any number of more or less acceptable colloquialisms, but that would make another thread.


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## Arrius

It may be of interest to point out that the Arabic adjective for* pregnant* only has the* masculine* form: *حامِل**      (Haamil) *.   To agree with the word for woman  it should add an a on the end, but it doesn't.  OK, so sexual and grammatical genders are things apart, but, nonetheless, it is a curious phenomenon.


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## LV4-26

As has been said, it's going to take more time in French because of the linguistic problem it poses. (but one that can be overcome, as tilt suggested). But the psycho-sociological phenomenon of which it is a symptom and which is typical of our "modernity",  is already here, as in most "Western" countries. This is a globalized world, isn't it? The evolution towards a generalized confusion of the poles is taking place now, in France as in the U.S. Mind the electrical shock! 
In other words, I wouldn't be surprised to hear "nous sommes enceints" in the near future.


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## cherine

Arrius said:


> It may be of interest to point out that the Arabic adjective for* pregnant* only has the* masculine* form: *حامِل** (Haamil) *. To agree with the word for woman it should add an a on the end, but it doesn't. OK, so sexual and grammatical genders are things apart, but, nonetheless, it is a curious phenomenon.


It's not that curious if you learn that the pattern فاعل (faa3il) has a female meaning with some words. Think عانس - عاقر - حائض ... all female-related meanings, and all have the appearance of a masculine word.


LV4-26 said:


> As has been said, it's going to take more time in French because of the linguistic problem it poses. (but one that can be overcome, as tilt suggested). But the psycho-sociological phenomenon of which it is a symptom and which is typical of our "modernity", is already here, as in most "Western" countries. This is a globalized world, isn't it?


In Arabic, we'd face both a linguistic and a psycho-sociological problem accepting that a man either says that he's pregnant or that they (he and his wife) are pregnant.
If he says "ana 7ámil" (=I'm pregnant) or "e7na 7ámil" (=we are pregnant) he'd be the laugh of those who'd hear him, and he'll be subject to a long list of jokes and mockery.

Maybe we still have a long way to go to reach "modernity", but I don't think I'm eager to this kind of modernism  Some changes in the language alter it too much for my rather conservative or classical taste.
But who knows what the future generations will come up with?


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## panjandrum

We're pregnant - may be said as a flippant comment, usually by the soon-to-be father.

"We're going to have a baby," is much more common and sincere as an announcement to family and friends.  This emphasises joint involvement and concern and avoids the biological impossibility.


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## biankita

In the Philippines, "We are pregnant!" are just placed in the baby shower paraphernalia but no one would say it outright.


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## kdl77

In Italian, the word for "pregnant" is INCINTA. It is a noun that can be only feminine, so two persons cannot be *incinti* (but if there are two pregnant women, they are INCINTE).


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## John-Paul

I think the correct expression would be "we are expecting." But that doesn't sound as heartfelt as "we are pregnant." I agree it is an insult to the woman's delivery pains. 

Just as annoying, a person with a child wanting to pass saying, "excuse us." It's that power of numbers aspect they seem to lean on. Kids can speak for themselves. It it would be a person pushing an incapactiates individual in a wheel chair, yes, then it would be appropiate.

The reason for using the first person plural has to do with the obsession Americans have with royalty and the pluralis majestatis.


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## Arrius

The reason for using the first person plural has to do with the obsession Americans have with royalty and the pluralis majestatis. *John-Paul*


I doubt this very much. Americans tend to be chummier and more familiar than us insular Brits and are more anxious to bring others into association with what they are saying and doing. For the same reason American women of "a certain age" form cliques who refer to each other as_ girls_. It is _esprit de corps_ (possibly with slightly patronising overtones) not illusions of grandeur that prompt these linguistic habits in our American cousins. I do not say that Americans are not greatly interested in our royalty but that is not the reason why they use_ we_ in this empathetic way. (At least they have those _ersatzro_ya_ls_, the Beckhams, now, whom I am quite glad to get shot of in Spain).

On the other hand, when Queen Victoria used the Royal We in phrases like "We are not amused" she was thinking only of herself and I believe that her descendant, the present queen has the same thoughts on the rare occasions she uses this form. The plural here is a traditional self-honorific.
Groetjes, A.


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## PocketCathy

I can't envision myself or my husband using that phrase, but I think that when someone shows that much enthusiasm over something as beautiful as starting a family, it is both praiseworthy and cute, even if the linguistics of it are rather odd. If someone around me were to say that, I would think "How sweet that he/she/they are so excited!" instead of "God, what a moron! How could they say something as stupid as that??"

But that's just me


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## Bilma

PocketCathy said:


> I can't envision myself or my husband using that phrase, but I think that when someone shows that much enthusiasm over something as beautiful as starting a family, it is both praiseworthy and cute, even if the linguistics of it are rather odd. If someone around me were to say that, I would think "How sweet that he/she/they are so excited!" instead of "God, what a moron! How could they say something as stupid as that??"
> 
> But that's just me


 

I completely agree with you.


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## panjabigator

PocketCathy said:


> I can't envision myself or my husband using that phrase, but I think that when someone shows that much enthusiasm over something as beautiful as starting a family, it is both praiseworthy and cute, even if the linguistics of it are rather odd. If someone around me were to say that, I would think "How sweet that he/she/they are so excited!" instead of "God, what a moron! How could they say something as stupid as that??"
> 
> But that's just me



I agree with your point wholeheartedly.  It definitely depends on context.  If it is said enthusiastically and wholeheartedly, it definitely would not draw too much of my attention.  On the other hand, it can sound rather odd. 

In Hindi and Panjabi (and I'd imagine in the many of the other 1000 some languages), there aren't many ways to say "I'm pregnant."  Women can say /mai.n maa banane vaalii huu.n/ which literally  means "I'm going to be a mother."  There is a literal way to say "I'm pregnant" but it doesn't sound very colloquial to me.  And it would CERTAINLY sound outlandish to hear a man say it.


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## gotitadeleche

Vagabond said:


> In Greece, it is normally the woman who is pregnant (linguistically too, I mean ). You might hear a happy father-to-be though exclaim with pride "We are pregnant!". It is more of a funny/cute way to show that he is happy expecting a baby; I have never heard it used in a different (or more serious) context.




This is the way I have always heard it used here in the U.S.


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## Smudgette

I remember my stepdaughter announcing 'we're pregnant' nearly three years ago and I'm afraid both my husband and I thought it was nauseatingly twee.  She was obviously trying to make her husband feel more involved, in which case the phrase 'we're expecting a baby' would have been more accurate as well as more appropriate, in my opinion.  Each to his own though.


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## kinia22

No, in Canada nobody says "We're pregnant"


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## Chaska Ñawi

kinia22 said:


> No, in Canada nobody says "We're pregnant"



Actually, I've heard it quite frequently in Canada, tongue always planted firmly in cheek.


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## Arrius

Since these days loving husbands are expected to attend pre-natal classes and help wifey with her exercises, to view the scan of the foetus and even attend the accouchement (all of which I find right and proper, I hasten to add), some of them at least have earned the right to this associative verb-form.
Things are not like this in Black Africa: I recall sitting in the Cairo Bar, Lusaka, with a Zambian friend of mine, an expert herpatologist (snakes not herpes), who, after the third pint, glanced at his watch and remarked casually,"Ah, my wife should be giving birth about now".


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## PrincessLyka

First time I heard the expression was when my husband announced to his parents that "we were pregnant". Thought it was cute though... He still refers to whoever is expecting a child as "they are pregnant". He is a family man, and even if he does not physically carry or deliver the baby, he participated in our pregnancies and the preparation for the births, and is an active father.

In a day and age where unfortunately so many men either dump their pregnant partner, show no interest whatsoever or even regard the whole pregnancy as an inconvenience to their comfort, I find that the paternal involvement is heart warming.

Days where "we were pregnant" are a cherished memory and I would not have it any other way.


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## L4ut4r0

kdl77 said:


> In Italian, the word for "pregnant" is INCINTA. It is a noun that can be only feminine, so two persons cannot be *incinti*



*Holmes-Cruise, di nuovo incinti* 

  19 giugno 2007 alle 10:17
   Katie Holmes sarebbe incinta e la nascita del bimbo prevista per marzo 2008.


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## Sidjanga

I hear it from time to time in Germany, both from the couple who are going to be parents ("We´re pregnant!") and as a question from friends: "How is it going"? Are you (two) pregnant yet?" (in contrast to English, in German the plural reference of the conjugated verb is clear.)

So far it hasn´t passed the stage of a kind of joke, but some people already say it quite naturally and without the formerly "obligatory" ironical undertone, so I guess that in a future it might be accepted officially. Ultimately there´s been going on quite some public discussion and filosophy about the implications that the pregnancy of the woman has on the life of both members of the couple, which might be taken as an intent to "justify" the expression socially or even to creat the need for its use.


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## wildan1

panjandrum said:


> We're pregnant - may be said as a flippant comment, usually by the soon-to-be father.
> 
> "We're going to have a baby," is much more common and sincere as an announcement to family and friends. This emphasises joint involvement and concern and avoids the biological impossibility.


 
I agree on this. Only used in a joking way in American English as well.

_We are expecting_ would be the standard way to say this in AE.


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## dn88

As far as I know, in Poland only women can _be pregant_, while a couple can _be expecting a baby_.


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## gato2

Yo lo he oido alguna vez pero siempre me ha parecido algo falso. Es como si el hombre quisiera demostrar algo. Como muchas otras personas han dicho en este foro me parece mucho mas natural y sin pretensiones decir "estamos esperando un niño"


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## dexter1355

I often hear people from my country Vietnam say "I am pregnant". So that is an interesting thing to know that people say "We are pregnant" lol


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## nichec

The front man Joel Madden of "Good Charlotte" said that day to his fans (in response to their applause) "Yes, I did it, *we are pregnant*."

In the movie "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind", a nurse said to a patient "And* how are we* today?"


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## kanoe

The problem in french is the adjective changes form depending on wether it describes something/someone male or female.
And when there's one of each gender, we use the plural masculine form.
But of course there's not masculine forme of the adjective "pregnant"...so we don't know how to include both the father and the mother in it...


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## L4ut4r0

kanoe said:


> when there's one of each gender, we use the plural masculine form.
> But of course there's not masculine form of the adjective "pregnant"...so we don't know how to include both the father and the mother in it...



_enceints_ appears 9910 times in Google.

*1+1=3 ou Les Couples Enceints, ma démarche*

C’est mon sujet de vie : il me semble important de montrer que la femme enceinte est en couple, je découvre à chaque couple une nouvelle histoire, magique...


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## ColdomadeusX

6 pies said:


> I just saw a post on the English-Spanish page about the word pregnant and it reminded me of a relatively new phenomena (I think…someone correct me if I’m wrong) in which people in the US will say, “we are pregnant” instead of “I’m pregnant” or “my wife is pregnant”. I suppose it is to be more inclusive to the husband. In your country do you hear people saying “we’re pregnant” or is it exclusively “I’m pregnant” or “my wife is pregnant”? If someone said, “we’re pregnant” what would people in your country think? Would it be strange? Normal?
> 
> In my experience, I’ve heard it a couple of times. At first it sounded a little weird to me because the husband obviously not pregnant, but I guess it’s the “new” way to say it.


 
it sounds extremely weird. I've never heard it before and I think that it's just weird to include your partner in that sentence because only one of you is pregnant-makes them sound like twins joined together.


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## Kakta

I've heard that a couple of times in polish.


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## HUMBERT0

mirx said:


> I honestly haven't heard it coming from actual poeple in the streets or family or friends, but is a trend in Mexican soap operas, so it doesn't sound that weird anymore.
> Women get pregnant, men don't.


Me neither, I´ve never heard it.

¡Estamos en encinta!
¡Estamos embarazados!

It sounds awful in Spanish!
How ever in English it doesn´t sound that bad, I think in AE every thing goes, so to each its own.


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## panjandrum

Reporting a genuine example of this I heard on Sunday ...
I was with a group of about eight people, male & female, ages ~30 to 70+.
We were talking about holidays.
A was asked if he had been anywhere interesting this year.  
He replied,
"We didn't go anywhere this year because we're pregnant.  J had a long list of things she wanted done in the house before the baby arrives."
Two points about this.
First that he said it completely naturally. We all know him and his wife and we know that she is pregnant.
Second, that no one around the table showed any surprise at what he said.


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## MarX

DearPrudence said:


> It's strange because if a doctor says "*Nous allons bien aujourd'hui ?*" (_"Are we OK today?"_) I don't have the impression he includes himself. It's just another way of saying "Vous allez bien ? (_Are you OK?_) (Also, some people say "*Il va bien aujourd'hui ?*" (_"Is he going OK today?"_) while talking to you (maybe because they don't know if they should say "tu" or "vous" ...)
> A doctor saying "*Nous allons bien aujourd'hui ?*" sounds completely different than saying "*on attend un bébé*" ("_We are expecting a baby"_) for instance.
> 
> But I can't imagine a man saying "*Nous sommes enceint(e)s*" (_We are pregnant_), that would be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.


How about *"on est enceint(e)s"*. Is that not used?


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## MarX

Arrius said:


> It may be of interest to point out that the Arabic adjective for* pregnant* only has the* masculine* form: *حامِل** (Haamil) *. To agree with the word for woman it should add an a on the end, but it doesn't. OK, so sexual and grammatical genders are things apart, but, nonetheless, it is a curious phenomenon.


Ah, in Indonesian, *pregnant = hamil*. But we don't have no grammatical genders.

As for "we're pregnant", I've never heard "kami sedang hamil" in Indonesian.


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## Outsider

Although men don't normally say that they're pregnant in Portuguese, we do have a silly joke around the phrase "to give birth".

In Portuguese, this is _dar à luz_, literally "to give to the light". Well, when a group of people is in a room, and someone is asked to turn on the light, sometimes people say _Dá à/a luz_ to mean "turn on the light". As Vanda observed in the other thread, it's especially funny when the addressee is male.


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