māma wèi wǒ dānxīn.

My mom worries about me.

Breakdown of māma wèi wǒ dānxīn.

• 我wǒ: me
• 妈妈māma: mom
• 担心dānxīn: to worry
• 为wèi: for

Questions & Answers about māma wèi wǒ dānxīn.

Why do we use 为 here? What’s the difference between 妈妈为我担心 and 妈妈担心我?

Both sentences basically mean “My mom is worried about me.”, but the focus is slightly different:

• 妈妈担心我

  • Literally: “Mom worries me / Mom worries about me.”
  • This is the most common, neutral way to say it.
  • Pattern: Subject + 担心 + object.

• 妈妈为我担心

  • Literally: “Mom, for me, worries.”
  • 为我 adds the idea of “because of me / for my sake.”
  • It can sound a bit more emotional or a bit more formal/written than 妈妈担心我, depending on context.

In everyday speech, 妈妈担心我 is more frequent. 妈妈为我担心 emphasizes the reason or the person that causes the worry more explicitly.

What exactly is 为 in this sentence? Is it a verb, a preposition, or something else?

In 妈妈为我担心, 为 (wèi) is functioning as a preposition (sometimes called a “coverb” in Chinese grammar).

• Structure: Subject + 为 + noun/pronoun + main verb
  Here: 妈妈 (subject) + 为我 (prepositional phrase) + 担心 (main verb)

Typical similar patterns:

• 为你高兴 – be happy for you
• 为他着急 – be anxious because of him / for him
• 为考试发愁 – worry about the exam

So 为 introduces the person or reason connected to the emotion or action.

Can I say 妈妈担心为我 instead of 妈妈为我担心?

No, 妈妈担心为我 is not natural and would be considered incorrect.

With 为 used like this (as a preposition), the usual word order is:

Subject + 为 + person/thing + verb

So you say:

• 妈妈为我担心 – correct
• 妈妈为考试担心 – correct
• 老师为学生着急 – correct

You do not place 为 + object after 担心 in this structure.

Could I just say 妈妈担心 and leave out 我 or 为我?

Yes, you can say 妈妈担心, but the meaning becomes more general or context‑dependent:

• 妈妈担心
  
  • Literally: “Mom is worried.”
  • It does not specify what she is worried about.
  • In context, listeners will often assume it’s about you, but grammatically it’s open.

Compare:

• 妈妈担心我 – clearly “Mom is worried about me.”
• 妈妈为我担心 – “Mom is worried for me / because of me.”
• 妈妈担心 – “Mom is (feeling) worried,” about something that context must clarify.

So you can omit 我, but you lose explicit information.

Is 为我担心 more like “worry about me” or “worry for me” in English?

It sits between those two English ideas:

• “worry about me” – focuses on the topic of the worry (me).
• “worry for me” – often implies caring, on my behalf, “out of concern for me.”

为我担心 includes both:

• It clearly states the cause/target of worry: me.
• It also carries a nuance of “for my sake / out of concern for me.”

In natural English, you’d usually translate 妈妈为我担心 as:

• “My mom is worried about me.”

But the 为 subtly adds a sense of “for my sake.”

What’s the difference between 妈妈为我担心 and 妈妈对我很担心?

Both are grammatical and can mean something close to “My mom is very worried about me,” but:

• 妈妈为我担心

  • Very common and natural.
  • 为 highlights the reason / cause / person linked to the emotion.
  • Feels a bit like “Mom worries for me / because of me.”

• 妈妈对我很担心

  • Also possible and used.
  • 对 is more like “toward / regarding,” marking the direction/target of the feeling.
  • Feels like “Mom is very worried with regard to me.”

In practice:

• 为 is very typical with emotional verbs like 担心, 着急, 高兴, especially when stressing the cause:

  • 为孩子担心, 为你高兴, 为他着急.

• 对 with 担心 often appears in patterns like:

  • 父母对孩子很担心 – “The parents are very worried about the children.”

You can use either, but 为我担心 is the more classic collocation here.

Is 担心 a verb like “to worry” or an adjective like “worried”?

担心 can behave both like a verb and like an adjective (a “stative verb”).

1. As a verb (to worry / to worry about):

   • 妈妈担心我。 – Mom worries about me.
   • 别担心。 – Don’t worry.
   • 他很担心考试。 – He is worried about the exam.

2. As a stative verb / adjective (worried):

   • 妈妈很担心。 – Mom is very worried.
   • 他看起来很担心。 – He looks really worried.

English splits this into “worry” (verb) and “worried” (adjective), but Chinese uses 担心 for both roles, depending on context and structure.

Could I replace 为 with 给 or 替 here, like 妈妈给我担心 or 妈妈替我担心?

• 妈妈给我担心 – sounds wrong/ungrammatical in standard Mandarin. 给 does not work with 担心 in this way.

• 妈妈替我担心 – this is possible, but the nuance changes:

  • 为我担心 – “worry because of me / for my sake” (neutral/standard).
  • 替我担心 – “worry on my behalf / in my place.”

替 emphasizes that someone else should be worrying, or that mom is doing the worrying for you. It can sometimes carry a slightly complaining or teasing tone, like:

• 你什么都不怕，都是妈妈替你担心。
  “You’re not afraid of anything; it’s always mom who does the worrying for you.”

In 妈妈 māma, why is the second ma not marked with a tone in pinyin? Is it also first tone?

The word 妈妈 is written in pinyin as māma:

• First syllable: mā – 1st tone
• Second syllable: ma – neutral tone (轻声)

So it is not pronounced mā mā with two clear first tones. Instead:

• The first mā is full 1st tone.
• The second ma is lighter, shorter, and unstressed.

Neutral tone is very common in family words:

• 爸爸 – bàba
• 哥哥 – gēge
• 奶奶 – nǎinai

So 妈妈为我担心 is pronounced roughly: māma wèi wǒ dānxīn.

How do I say “My mom was worried about me” or “will be worried about me”? There’s no tense marker in 妈妈为我担心.

Chinese doesn’t mark tense the same way English does. 妈妈为我担心 can be past, present, or future, depending on context. You clarify time with time words and sometimes aspect particles:

• Past:

  • 昨天妈妈为我担心。
    “Yesterday my mom was worried about me.”
  • 那天妈妈为我担心得不得了。
    “That day my mom was extremely worried about me.”

• Present (ongoing/general):

  • 现在妈妈为我担心。
    “Right now my mom is worried about me.”
  • 妈妈总是为我担心。
    “My mom is always worried about me.”

• Future / expectation:

  • 要是我很晚回家，妈妈一定会为我担心。
    “If I come home very late, my mom will definitely be worried about me.”

You usually don’t need to add 了 after 担心 just to mark past; time expressions and context normally do the job.