I recently learned that 母 (はは) is chiefly used to refer to ones own mother. However, if the person you’re talking to knows her, you would say お母さん (おかあさん) most of the time.
What I wonder now, is whether you use お母さん when talking to your mother as opposed to just 母さん. Is the お- only for someone else’s mother? Or is it just a bit more polite?
6 comments
I think both can be correct. To others you refer to her as (humbly) 母 whereas to her or others who know her, you refer to her as (respectfully) 母さん or お母さん
Think of it this way: 母 is just relaying the basic fact of family relationship or biology. It’s the same type of vocabulary you’d use if you were saying “the mother of a fawn is a doe”.
Adding to the word to get お母さん adds respectful politeness about someone else’s mother (and is a common way to address your own mother), but there are so many options for how a person might address or refer to their own mother. Regional differences, age of the speaker, gendered speech, etc. can give you 母ちゃん、ママ、ふくろ and a myriad of others.
Depends on the person. It’s like whether you call your father Dad or Pops. In my experience, it feels like most male kids call their mom お母さん or ママ, but as they grow older, many of them decide to use 母さん or お袋. Most girls keep using お母さん or ママ.
My mom (Japanese) calls her mom (my grandma) お母ちゃん, while her brother (my uncle) calls her 母ちゃん.
I mention my mom as 母 for formality – that is to say that whether or not they know her in person doesn’t matter.
And I call my mom お母さん all times, and I don’t use any Keigo in our conversation. It’s just the way it is for my family. Like other commenter said, it depends on every different family, age, region. Same for father. So お is not indicative of anything.
I’d say, call your parents ちち or はは if you were talking in rather formal or polite manner. Otherwise it’s about preference.
Japanese is convoluted.
母上／お母様、母、お母さん、母さん、ママ、母ちゃんー>ばばあ
ye it’s more polite, i guess?