Skip to content

inay

ináy with stress marks

mother (familiar term)

noun i-NAY Native origin Common

Usage Note

Inay is an informal, affectionate term for mother used in many Philippine regional languages and adopted into colloquial Tagalog. It is warm and intimate, commonly heard in family settings and among those with provincial roots. Children may use it interchangeably with 'nanay'.

Examples

Beginner

" Inay, gutom na ako. "

Natural Translation

Mom, I'm hungry now.

Literal Translation

Mom, hungry already I.

Intermediate

" Inay, uwi na ako! "

Natural Translation

Mom, I'm home!

Literal Translation

Mom, home already I.

Advanced

" Tuwing umuuwi ako sa probinsiya, lagi akong niyayakap ng aking inay at iniluluto niya ang paborito kong pagkain. "

Natural Translation

Whenever I go home to the province, my mom always hugs me and cooks my favorite food.

Literal Translation

Whenever go-home I at province, always I hugged by the my mom and cooks she the favorite my food.

Free · iOS & Android

Take Tagalog with you

The full course, a 12,500-word dictionary, and flashcards that make every word stick — free to start on iOS and Android.

Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.

How Tagalog words work

Explore Tagalog by topic

Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.