Palabra Lexi · common words in Spanish

How to say "mother" in Spanish

"Mother" in Spanish is madre, pronounced MAH-dreh (stress on the syllable in capitals). It is a feminine noun (la madre, plural las madres).

Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The speaker button uses your browser's built-in Spanish voice. Gender and plural: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

How to pronounce madre

Madre is pronounced MAH-dreh, in IPA /ˈmadɾe/. Madre has two syllables, MAH-dreh, with the stress on the first. There is no written accent because the word follows the basic rule: words ending in a vowel, -n or -s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.

Listen: normal and slow speed, in your browser's Spanish voice. IPA: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Is madre masculine or feminine?

Madre is feminine, so it takes la (the) and una (a): la madre. The plural is las madres. The ending does not tell you the gender here, so learn the word together with its article: la madre.

Example sentences

Mi madre cocina
my mother cooks

La madre despierta al niño.
The mother wakes the child.

Mi madre me quiere mucho
My mother loves me a lot

"Mother" in Spain and Latin America

Regional words and roots: Diccionario de la lengua española (RAE). Spanish varies by region, so treat these as the most common patterns, not strict rules.

How to remember madre

madre [MAH-dreh] sounds like the English “ma dear”. Picture this:

«Ma, dear!» — mother hears it from three rooms away and the soup is already warming.

A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method, a well-studied way to learn vocabulary. How it works.

Practice madre

Two quick games, right here: no sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere.

Word web: madre

Words that live next to madre in the Palabra word web, each with its own English sound-alike and scene. Learning them together makes each one easier to recall.