母 (haha) and お母さん (okāsan)


What is the difference in meaning and usage between 母 (haha) and お母さん
(okāsan)?




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>.

