Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "妈妈" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 妈妈 in Chinese?

妈妈 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ma˥.ma/. It means “mother / mom.” MAH-ma: a high level first syllable, then a weak toneless echo. The reduplication is what makes it affectionate rather than formal.

MAH-ma: a high level first syllable, then a weak toneless echo. The reduplication is what makes it affectionate rather than formal.

妈妈 /ma˥.ma/

māma

Kinship reduplications always neutralise their second half, and this word shows the neutral tone's dependence on context especially clearly: since mā is level, the toneless echo stays up at the ceiling. In 弟弟, where the first syllable falls, the echo sits at the floor. Same suffix behaviour, completely different pitch.

Listen: 妈妈

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Sound it out

mā Close the lips and send the air through the nose, then a broad open "ah" with the jaw genuinely down, held at the top of the range without wavering.

ma The same syllable stripped of its tone: shorter, quieter, and sitting at the high pitch the first one established. Because mā is level, this neutral syllable stays high — quite unlike the ma in 弟弟, which sits low.

Hear it in a sentence

我妈妈做饭很好吃。

Wǒ māma zuò fàn hěn hǎochī.

My mother cooks very well.

Listen: 我妈妈做饭很好吃。

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我妈妈做饭很好吃。 keeps wǒ at a full dip because mā is level. Then ma fades high, zuò and fàn both plunge, and hěn and hǎo are adjacent dipping tones so hěn rises before chī jumps back to a level high. The sentence therefore ends with the standard hén hǎo chī conversion.

Where English speakers slip

Giving the second syllable a full level tone produces māmā, which sounds like a formal recitation rather than the word for mum. Let it go slack while keeping it high. The other risk is the vowel: the flat a of English "mama" is too front, and Mandarin wants a genuinely open "ah" with the jaw dropped on the stressed syllable.