What is the difference in meaning and usage between 母 (haha) and お母さん
(okāsan)?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-23T20:35:32.003
39424
2016-09-24T02:03:43.140
18017
question
word-choice meaning
母 (haha) and お母さん (okāsan)
お母さん (okāsan) is more colloquial, and can be used as YOU (second person).

These answers seem good: <https://hinative.com/ja/questions/1826>

> ex. お母さんは愛しているよ。 (mom says) I love you.

Great point. お母さん can be 1st person.

or it can mean "your mother".

* * *

Thanks for the note re: *[お母さんは愛しているよ。] not being natural Jp.

If Fujiko Hemming were a mother (or if Kuwata Keisuke was female and a mother)
(or if 忌野 清志郎 were alive, and ...), she would say that.

追記 ： たしかに *[お母さんは愛しているよ。] ってのは少し不自然なんだが、 きょうび日本全国で毎日 数百人（またはそれ以上）のお母さんが自分の子供に
*[お母さんは愛しているよ。] と語りかけている、と想像するのは、それほど困難ではないでしょ。
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-23T20:57:42.143
39425
2016-09-24T02:03:43.140
2016-09-24T02:03:43.140
16344
16344
39424
answer
Easy way to describe the difference is,

```

    母 (haha) = mother
    お母さん (okāsan) = mom
    
```

When a grown-up talks about his or her mom with someone else, it's funny to
say "My mom is xxx." Well, it may not be so uncommon in English-speaking
world, but in Japan, unless you are in elementary school or younger, you are
expected to describe your mom as "mother." It's simply more formal.

Like H. Ha said, it's also possible that お母さん can be used by the person who
describes herself. Though the sentence in the example,

```

    お母さんは愛しているよ。
    
```

does not sound natural Japanese unless there are sentences before or after
this one.

Anyway, there are several more ways to commonly describe "mother," but these
two are probably the most common ones.

When you describe your mom, you'd want to use 母, while when you describe
someone else's mother, you hardly say 母. You need to say,

```

    "あなたのお母さん" or "あなたのお母様" = "your mom" 
    
```

Hope this helps.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-23T21:18:23.220
39429
2016-09-23T23:44:21.693
2016-09-23T23:44:21.693
9831
17929
39424
answer
母 and お母さん differs in the level of politeness the speaker uses to address
someone and changes based on the situation. As rule of thumb 母 is humble and
お母さん is respectful. So if your addressing your mother you would call her お母さん
on the other hand when talking about your mother with someone else calling her
お母さん would come off as rude, so you call her 母, but would call the other
person's mother お母さん.

In general Japanese makes a great deal of linguistic distinctions based on the
relative social positions of the speaker and listener. You can check out more
here <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese>.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-24T00:54:28.363
39433
2016-09-24T01:08:41.100
2016-09-24T01:08:41.100
17697
17697
39424
answer