native tongue
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the same way that learning another language helps us understand our native tongue more deeply, travel forms character through lived experience.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
The result is that these Iranian characters, when talking among themselves in their native tongue, sound awfully like Americans having a conversation in the mall or at a nearby table at a restaurant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2026
For me, as a third-culture kid navigating multiple identities, I always felt torn—caught between the cultural world my parents raised me in and the white Pennsylvania suburb that rejected our customs and native tongue.
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2025
She has no background in instruction, and the only language that she and her pupils share is English, which is not a native tongue for any of them.
From New York Times ● Nov. 21, 2024
Well first of all, I'm speaking Vietnamese, which is not my "native tongue."
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
