How to Say “My dad and mom” in Chinese
Relationships and family · HSK 1
"My dad and mom" in Chinese is 我爸爸和妈妈 (Wǒ bàba hé māma). Notice the word order; Chinese almost always puts 爸 (dad) before 妈 (mom), the opposite of English 'mom and dad'. The shortened form 爸妈 (bàmā) is extremely common in daily speech: 我爸妈 means 'my parents' and sounds warmer than the formal 父母 (fùmǔ), which you'd use in writing or when being respectful.
Primary translation
我爸爸和妈妈
Wǒ bàba hé māma
Traditional: 我爸爸和媽媽
Variants by register
Formal
我的父母
Wǒ de fùmǔ
Casual
我爸妈
Wǒ bàmā
When to use it
Notice the word order; Chinese almost always puts 爸 (dad) before 妈 (mom), the opposite of English 'mom and dad'. The shortened form 爸妈 (bàmā) is extremely common in daily speech: 我爸妈 means 'my parents' and sounds warmer than the formal 父母 (fùmǔ), which you'd use in writing or when being respectful. The possessive 的 (de) is usually dropped for family; you say 我爸爸 not 我的爸爸, because close relationships don't need the grammatical marker. Taiwanese speakers sometimes use 爹地 (diēdì) and 妈咪 (māmī) from English influence.
Example sentences
我爸妈都是老师。
Wǒ bàmā dōu shì lǎoshī.
My dad and mom are both teachers.
周末我要回家看爸爸妈妈。
Zhōumò wǒ yào huí jiā kàn bàba māma.
On the weekend I'm going home to see my dad and mom.
我爸妈住在上海。
Wǒ bàmā zhù zài Shànghǎi.
My parents live in Shanghai.