nattou ha mitame hodo tabenikuku nai to haha ga itte imasita.

In this pattern, ほど means to the extent that or as much as.

So 見た目ほど食べにくくない means:

• not as hard to eat as its appearance suggests
• literally, it is not hard to eat to the extent of its appearance

A very common pattern is:

• A は B ほど〜ない = A is not as ~ as B

Here, the comparison is a little compressed:

• 見た目ほど = as much as its appearance / as much as it looks

So the sentence is comparing how natto looks with how difficult it actually is to eat.

見た目 means appearance, how something looks, or outward look.

In this sentence, it refers to the visual impression natto gives. Natto often looks strange or unappetizing to people who are not used to it, so 見た目ほど implies:

• compared with how it looks
• judging from its appearance

It is a noun, so 見た目ほど is literally to the degree of its appearance.

No, they are different.

• 食べにくい = hard to eat, awkward to eat, not easy to eat
• 食べられない = cannot eat

So 食べにくい does not mean impossible. It just means there is some difficulty or inconvenience.

Examples:

• bones, smell, texture, stickiness, shape, or unfamiliarity can make something 食べにくい
• an allergy or physical impossibility would fit 食べられない better

With natto, 食べにくい often suggests things like:

• the sticky texture
• the smell
• the unfamiliar experience

Because it is being made negative.

食べにくい is an -i adjective, so to make it negative:

• drop the final い
• add くない

So:

• 食べにくい → 食べにくくない

This means:

• is not hard to eat
• isn't difficult to eat

That gives us:

• 見た目ほど食べにくくない
• it’s not as hard to eat as it looks

は marks 納豆 as the topic.

So the sentence is basically saying:

• As for natto, my mother said that it isn’t as hard to eat as it looks.

Using は makes sense because the sentence is about natto in general. The speaker is introducing natto as the thing being discussed.

If you used が instead, it would sound more like natto is being newly identified or emphasized as the subject. は is more natural here for a general comment about natto.

Because 母 is the subject of the verb 言っていました inside the main clause.

The part after と is the quoted content:

• 見た目ほど食べにくくない = what was said

Then:

• 母が言っていました = my mother was saying

Using が here simply marks mother as the one who said it.

If you said 母は, that would put more contrast or topical emphasis on mother, as in:

• As for my mother, she said...

But in this sentence, 母が is the more neutral choice.

Here, と marks a quotation or reported statement.

So:

• 見た目ほど食べにくくない と 母が言っていました
• Mother was saying, “It’s not as hard to eat as it looks.”

This と is very common after plain-form speech or thoughts.

Examples:

• 行くと言った = said that (someone) will go
• 大丈夫だと思う = think that it’s okay

In your sentence, the quoted part is:

• 見た目ほど食べにくくない

and と connects it to 言っていました.

Both are possible, but the nuance is a little different.

• 言いました = said
• 言っていました = was saying / had said / has been saying, depending on context

In reported speech, 〜と言っていました is extremely common. It often sounds a little softer and more natural when you are passing along what someone said.

So 母が言っていました often feels like:

• My mother said...
• My mother was saying...
• My mother told me...

It can imply recollection of something previously said, rather than just reporting a single speech act very directly.

When talking about your own mother to someone else, Japanese usually uses 母.

• 母 = my mother / one’s own mother, in a relatively neutral or humble way
• お母さん = mom / mother, often when speaking to your mother or referring to someone else’s mother more politely

So in this sentence:

• 母が言っていました is the normal way to say my mother said

A native English speaker may expect my mother to always be something like お母さん, but Japanese often changes family words depending on whose family member you mean and who you are talking to.

That is normal in Japanese.

The quoted content before と often stays in plain form, while the main sentence can still be polite.

So:

• quoted content: 食べにくくない (plain)
• reporting verb: 言っていました (polite)

This is very common.

You can think of it as:

• Mother said, “It’s not hard to eat.”

The quoted idea itself does not have to match the politeness level of the final verb.

Not exactly. It is more natural to understand it as:

• From its appearance, natto seems like it would be hard to eat
• Natto isn’t as hard to eat as it looks

Japanese often leaves some of that logic unstated.
見た目ほど食べにくくない is compact, but the intended meaning is clear: appearance gives one impression, actual experience is less negative.

So the sentence is not claiming that appearance is directly being eaten, of course. It is comparing:

• the impression created by the appearance with
• the actual eating experience

A helpful breakdown is:

• 納豆は = as for natto
• 見た目ほど = as much as its appearance / as it looks
• 食べにくくない = is not hard to eat
• と = that
• 母が = my mother
• 言っていました = was saying / said

So the structure is:

• [quoted statement] と [person] が 言っていました
• [“...”] my mother said

And the full flow is:

• As for natto, [it’s not as hard to eat as it looks], my mother said.

This word order is very normal in Japanese: the quoted content comes before と, and the reporting verb comes later.