Hola.

[Nicos mami]

Hola. I'm April. My son is Nicholas, or Nikko/ Nico for short when we want to be funny.
He is serving a Spanish-speaking mission for our church right now, and I want to be able to say some things to him in the language he is using.
I took French in high school many, many moons ago, and remember less than a little. I'm from the Southwest US so I've heard Spanish used but only know a few of the common phrases from my kids when they took it in school in the past 2-5 years.
My son just spent 6 weeks in Mexico City in an immersion language program and he told us that the textbook-type Spanish they taught him in high school for 3 years was much different than what he experienced in real life in Mexico. Sounded like although the vocabulary was familiar, the grammar and (I guess) the dialect was different. I would imagine like English in the US vs. the U.K.
I'm looking forward to learning something new.
April

[Rusty]

¡Hola, April!

The name you chose to use as your member ID shows that you know a little about Spanish spelling (you changed the English word 'mommy' to 'mami', which would be pronounced by a Mexican much like 'mommy' is pronounced).

By adding the letter 's' to the end of Nico, you provided a Spanish speaker with a way to say "Nico's mommy," which is how we English speakers express the idea of possession. You are "the mommy of Nico."

Now, I'll tell you how to say that in Spanish.

In Spanish, you'll always use the four-word structure I wrote in bold above. The Spanish language has no concept of the Saxon genitive (they can't use the two-word structure (possession+'s possessor), in other words).

In Spanish, the possessor is said first, followed by the Spanish word for 'of' and then the possession. If the possessor is not a proper noun, the definite article 'the' needs to precede it.

Every Spanish noun is either masculine or feminine. Consider these terms as categories instead of gender.

The noun 'mami' happens to be a feminine noun, so the feminine definite article must precede it. This is the word 'la'.

Putting it all together, 'la mami de Nico' is the translation of 'the mommy of Nico' (and it's also the translation of "Nico's mommy" (the Saxon genitive)).


If you wanted to say the complete sentence, "I am Nico's mommy," you would just need to add the verb "I am" to your arsenal. That verb is 'soy'.

Soy la mami de Nico.


Now, your Spanish lesson wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention that 'mami' is a term of endearment. The word for 'mom', which would be more commonly used if you're talking with others, is 'mamá'.

Soy la mamá de Nico.

Welcome to the forums!
¡Bienvenida a los foros!

[Nicos mami]

Thank you, Rusty, for the extremely informative and detailed welcome.

I did know some of what you mentioned:

• nouns have an associated gender
• The last letter of the article (or some other words) changing based on the gender of the noun
• The "four word structure"-- I knew the concept (it's the same in French)-- I purposely meant to mix the two languages... just for fun..

Your reply was very helpful to remind me of some of what I already knew, and filled in a few blanks of things that I didn't know.
You are very kind to take the time to explain everything so clearly, even including Mexican pronunciation ...
Thank you again