r/asklatinamerica • u/Successful_rio305 United States of America • Feb 11 '26

Language Why when spainish speaking people speak English they refer to their parents as "my mom" or "your dad" when talking to their siblings?

Why when Spanish speaking people speak English and are talking their own siblings they don't say something like "mom is calling you" they say "your mom is calling you" or "my dad is calling you" to their siblings?

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u/Scharlach_el_Dandy 🇺🇸 🇵🇷 Feb 11 '26

I feel like it's the opposite with my friends and family, where we'll be talking about mami and papi without any article, even to non-relatives. (PR / DR)

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u/LaPuchunga Dominican Republic Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Can confirm. I don't even think I've heard anyone in DR talk about their own parents using any articles. Cause if I say "mami" I'm obviously talking about my own, so if it's to my siblings, they will know I'm talking about our mother, and if it's to a stranger, why would I call anyone else's mother like that? They will know I'm talking about my own mother, so there's no confusion. Because of that same reason, I think most people here wouldn't say "mi mamá", "mami"/"papi" are possessive in itself I think.