お母さん
okāsan[o̞ka̠ːsã̠ɴ]
In Japanese, 'someone else's mother' is said as お母さん (okāsan).
The term お母さん is a polite way to refer to another person's mother. It is used to show respect to the person you are talking to or the person you are talking about.
Which one should you use?
おかあさん can be used to address someone else's mother in a friendly and informal manner, whereas お母様 is a polite way to refer to someone else's mother. For very formal situations, the term ご母堂 is used.
How does it change in a sentence?
In formal contexts, you can use the honorific suffix -sama instead of -san to increase the level of respect when referring to someone else's mother, resulting in the form お母様.
How do you pronounce it?
okāsan
Did you know?
- In Japanese, there is a strict social distinction where you use お母さん for someone else's mother but a humble word like 母 for your own when talking to others.
- While many modern Japanese terms feel like they have always existed, the widespread use of お母さん was a relatively recent development driven by a single 1903 elementary school textbook.
- Before the 20th century, if you lived in Tokyo, you likely would not have used お母さん to refer to someone else's mother, as it was primarily a dialect of the Osaka and Kyoto regions.
Examples in context
- 田中さんのお母さんはとても優しいです。Tanaka-san no okāsan wa totemo yasashii desu.Mr. Tanaka's mother is very kind.
- 昨日、佐藤さんのお母さんに会いました。Kinō, Satō-san no okāsan ni aimashita.I met Mr. Sato's mother yesterday.
- 鈴木さんのお母さんは料理が上手ですね。Suzuki-san no okāsan wa ryōri ga jōzu desu ne.Mr. Suzuki's mother is good at cooking, isn't she?
Example conversation
Yui and Ren are talking about a classmate's family.
- 結衣 Yui高橋さんのお母さんは元気？Takahashi-san no okāsan wa genki?Is Mr. Takahashi's mother doing well?
- 蓮 Renうん、とても元気だよ。Un, totemo genki da yo.Yeah, she is doing very well.
- 結衣 Yuiよかった。今度、お母さんに挨拶したいな。Yokatta. Kondo, okāsan ni aisatsu shitai na.That's good. I want to say hello to her sometime.
- 蓮 Renきっと喜ぶと思うよ。Kitto yorokobu to omou yo.I'm sure she will be happy.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry お母さん, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
