Meaning & use
give birth
Last updated
Meaning
phraseintransitive
To have a baby come out of your body; to experience childbirth.
Grammar: No object; often used with 'to' before the baby: give birth to a child.
Patterns
- give birth to someone
- give birth at home
- give birth in a hospital
She gave birth to a healthy baby boy last night.
The queen gave birth in the palace, surrounded by doctors.
Many women choose to give birth at home with a midwife.
Word forms
| third person singular | gives birth |
|---|---|
| past tense | gave birth |
| past participle | given birth |
| -ing form | giving birth |
Common combinations
- give birth to a baby
- She gave birth to a baby girl weighing 7 pounds.
- give birth at home
- They decided to give birth at home with a doula.
- give birth prematurely
- The baby was given birth prematurely and needed special care.
- give birth naturally
- She wanted to give birth naturally without pain relief.
- give birth to twins
- My aunt gave birth to twins last year.
Synonyms and how they differ
- have a baby
- More informal and common in everyday speech; 'give birth' is slightly more formal and focuses on the physical process.
- deliver
- Used more by medical professionals; it can be transitive (deliver a baby) or intransitive (the mother delivered).
- be delivered of
- Very formal and old-fashioned; now rare.
Word family
- birth noun
- The process or time of being born.
- childbirth noun
- The process of giving birth to a child.
Commonly confused: give birth or give a birth?
give birth vs give a birth
This is incorrect. The phrase is 'give birth' without 'a'. You can say 'give birth to a baby', but not 'give a birth'.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
The correct pattern is 'give birth to someone'. Option 1 omits 'to', option 2 adds an unnecessary 'a' before 'birth', and option 3 uses 'of' instead of 'to'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “give birth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.