Talking about feelings
Most toddlers start using a feelings word like "happy", "sad", "mad" or "scared" at around 2 years. In parents' reports for American children, half did so by about 23 months and 9 in 10 by about 3 years.
How sure are we?
Not sure yet. Only one source so far: our own count from thousands of American parents' word lists. How we know this
What it’s a sign of
Your child is starting to put feelings into words, their own and other people's.
These are words parents ticked on a list, so they show when children say the words, not how well they understand them.
We haven't yet read studies of other languages, or of when children talk about why people feel the way they do.
A main source for the ages
Feelings words and "me" and "mine", by age: our count from Wordbank v3.4
MyHappyBub (analysis of Wordbank open data) · 2026
- Children
- About 10,000 toddler word lists
- Where
- The United States (children learning English)
- Ages
- 16 to 36 months
- How
- Our own count from parents' word lists in the open Wordbank collection
- What it found
- Half of toddlers said a feelings word (happy, sad, mad or scared) by about 23 months, and 9 in 10 by about 35 months. Half said "mine" by about 21 months and "me" by about 23 months.
- Limits
- Parents tick words on a list. Each month is a different group of children. American English only.
If you’re worried about your child, talk to your child and family health nurse or GP.
Last checked 2 November 2026