haha wa bentoubako ni tamagoyaki o irete, watashi ni watashimashita.

My mother put rolled omelet in the lunch box and handed it to me.

Breakdown of haha wa bentoubako ni tamagoyaki o irete, watashi ni watashimashita.

• は: topic particle
• を: direct object particle
• 母はは: mother
• に: indirect object particle

Questions & Answers about haha wa bentoubako ni tamagoyaki o irete, watashi ni watashimashita.

Why is 母 used instead of お母さん here?

母 is the plain word for my mother when talking about your own mother to someone else.

A very common pattern in Japanese is:

• 母 = my mother / one’s own mother, used humbly or neutrally when referring to her
• お母さん = mom / mother, often used when addressing her directly or when referring to someone else’s mother more politely

So in this sentence, 母は is the natural way to say as for my mother.

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What does the は after 母 do?

The は marks 母 as the topic of the sentence.

So 母は means something like:

• As for my mother, ...
• My mother ...

It does not directly mark the subject in the same way English does. Instead, it sets up what the sentence is about.

In this sentence, once 母 is introduced as the topic, the rest of the sentence tells us what she did:

• put tamagoyaki into the lunch box
• handed it to me

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Why is に used after 弁当箱?